Two Comox Valley men have been convicted of robbery and a third convicted of theft following an attack in which the victim had to be airlifted to hospital after he was punched and kicked in the head and left unconscious in his Courtenay home.
On Thursday, Supreme Court Judge A. Silverman found Sebastian Penny and Jacob Seal each guilty of one count of robbery and Dylon Babin guilty of theft. Each man had been charged with aggravated assault, robbery and break and enter.
The victim, who knew Seal and considered him a friend, was attacked in his Piercy Avenue home on Dec. 6, 2011. Seal, Penny and Babin entered the victim’s home, where he was alone, and when they left just minutes later he had been punched and kicked in the head and left unconscious on the floor.
Doctors were unsure if he would survive.
Today he suffers, “physical, emotional and intellectual difficulties,” said Silverman, and he’ll likely never fully recover.
On the day of the incident Babin, Seal and Penny left Penny’s grandfather’s residence with two female friends to go for a walk. While on the walk, they passed by the victim’s home, where a week before Seal and Penny had reportedly been pepper-sprayed. The three men entered the victim’s house, but Silverman said there was no evidence to prove that they broke in and even the victim was not sure whether he would have invited them in or not.
About 10 or 15 minutes later they emerged. Seal came out first carrying a television; a few minutes later Babin and Penny emerged carrying between them an Xbox video game system, video games and a controller.
“Who did what while they were inside is what this trial is about,” said Silverman, who relied on recorded police statements made by Seal and Penny following the robbery because there were no witnesses to the incident.
In those statements, Seal and Penny each admitted to punching the victim and kicking him in the head after he fell to the ground. Babin did not make such an admission.
In his statement, Penny said that he kicked the victim, “in the ribs, kicked him in the head,” and then later described the kick as “just a stomp.” He also sent a text message to an acquaintance saying “hahaha beat the f*** out of another person.”
Seal argued that he left the house before the serious injuries occurred but told police he had kicked the victim once “in like the face.”
Silverman also relied on testimony from the two female witnesses who saw the three men emerge from the home carrying the stolen items. Both witnesses heard yelling from inside the home and at one point one of the females entered the home briefly.
She testified that she saw the victim, with his back to her, holding a knife and standing on one side of a table while on the other side the accused men faced the victim. Neither the victim nor the three accused suffered any knife wounds except for a small cut on the knuckles of one of the accused.
In his ruling the judge did find that both Seal and Penny had committed aggravated assault “in principle” as part of the robbery, but because they were found guilty of robbery, which by definition includes an element of violence, he said they could not also be convicted of the assault for the same actions. Aggravated assault carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail while robbery carries a maximum life sentence.
Following the attack the Comox Valley RCMP said the 22-year-old victim had to be airlifted out of St. Joseph’s General Hospital in serious condition.
The three are due back in court May 6 to set a date for sentencing. Seal was also found guilty of a breach of his bail conditions for consuming alcohol.
