The Victoria provincial court heard a tale of domestic assault, unfounded jealousy and a friendship run off the rails as two men pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the 2018 death of Metchosin resident Shawn Douglas Campbell.
Nathan Monsour and Lee Hart, originally charged with second-degree murder, entered their guilty pleas Monday at the conclusion of a preliminary inquiry.
An agreed statement of facts revealed that in the days leading up to his death, Campbell and his wife Amanda MacDonald were experiencing significant financial strain with their salvage business.
On Sept. 25, 2018, Campbell, 41, assaulted MacDonald, bruising her face and giving her a concussion. He was arrested, appeared in court the next morning, then released on conditions to have no contact with his wife.
On Sept. 27, Campbell’s friend Neil Albrecht said he could stay with him in his basement suite on Carey Road, although he was planning to move at the end of the month. That night, Monsour, Campbell’s good friend for many years, invited him and Albrecht to dinner. The three men talked about Campbell’s marital problems, said the statement.
During this time, MacDonald went to stay at the home of a friend in Sooke. On Sept. 28, she invited Monsour to dinner at her friend’s house.
That evening, Campbell called her several times. Frustrated, MacDonald threw her iPhone into the backyard. Undeterred, Campbell called her friend and asked to be put on speaker phone. He told MacDonald he would report her to the Ministry of Children and Family Development for drinking around their daughter.
During the early morning of Sept. 29, Campbell texted his ex-wife Tracy Cheetham. He said he was suspicious that his wife and Monsour were becoming romantically involved. Campbell said he was going to walk to Sooke to see what was happening. Cheetham said she would drive him there “hoping to prevent things from getting out of control,” said the statement.
Around 4 a.m., MacDonald slipped on the stairs at her friend’s house and broke her leg in two places. Monsour, who had not returned home after the dinner party, called an ambulance and accompanied her to Victoria General Hospital.
In the meantime, Campbell arrived and started looking for MacDonald and Monsour. He picked up a ladder and broke the window of Monsour’s truck. Then he and Cheetham drove to Monsour’s apartment, where he broke a window and did other damage.
Later that morning, Campbell and Cheetham went back to the friend’s house and were told MacDonald was in hospital and that Monsour had accompanied her. Campbell found her phone in the backyard and went through it on the drive back to Carey Road. He was still suspicion but eventually calmed down.
Monsour returned to the Sooke house and found his truck damaged.
In the early afternoon, Monsour went to visit his friend Brian Dark and met Lee Hart, who had been partying. The three men went to Monsour’s residence and found the broken window and other damage. Monsour told them about his truck and the assault of MacDonald. They drove to the hospital and Monsour took pictures of the bruising on MacDonald’s face.
At 2:27 p.m., they left the hospital drove to Carey Road. Campbell and Albrecht were coming and going from the suite to the driveway, packing the cars for Albrecht’s move. At 3:14 p.m., Monsour and Hart moved quickly down the driveway armed with hammers. Campbell, unarmed, was alone between the closed garage and the car.
In an attack that lasted less than a minute, Campbell was taken to the ground and struck on the back of the head with a hammer. A hammer blow was also delivered to the area above his right eye, said the statement.
Albrecht moved towards them to try and help his friend. Hart swung a hammer at him, hitting his arm and bruising his chest. Trying to stop the attack he said to Hart: “Look he’s done.” Hart turned and looked at Campbell and appeared surprised.
At some point during the attack, Albrecht heard someone say: “That’s what you get for beating your wife.”
Hart and Monsour ran off and got into Monsour’s truck. They drove away, wiping the hammers and throwing them out of the truck.
Albrecht tried to help Campbell, administering first aid and calling 911.
Campbell sustained skull fractures and lacerations near his right eye, bruising on his torso, lower back and lower legs. His brain injury was unsuitable for surgery. Brain death was confirmed on Oct. 1, 2018.
Hart has also pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon for striking Albrecht.
Judge Lisa Mrozinski ordered pre-sentence reports for Monsour and Hart and preparation of a Gladue report to assist the court in sentencing Monsour, who is of Indigenous background. The Supreme Court of Canada’s 1999 Gladue decision said judges must take note of systemic or background factors when determining a sentence for Indigenous offenders in order to address their “serious overrepresentation” in prison.
A date for the men’s sentencing is expected to be scheduled in mid-May.
