A tagger who was allegedly captured on security video footage defacing a newly painted mural in Vancouver’s Chinatown nearly two years ago won’t face charges after the prosecutors said a review of the evidence concluded the charge assessment standard was not met.
“I think it’s really disappointing because we caught the individual red-handed on camera,” said Bradley Spence, CEO of personal electric vehicle retailer eevee’s.
Security video from the store showed the tagging suspect, whom Global News is not naming, painting over mural artist Carolyn Wong’s “Fu Lu Shou Xi” or “Four Blessings,” on Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Company on East Pender at Main Street in the early hours of May 29, 2022.
The tea shop’s six rolling shutters had previously been repeatedly tagged and the cultural asset was the first for the Chinatown Mural Project, a collaboration between the Vancouver Mural Festival and the Chinatown BIA.
Days later, Spence encountered a man he believed to be the mural-tagging suspect in Chinatown and confronted him while recording on his iPhone.
Spence repeatedly asked the man, who was wearing the same vest as the suspect in the surveillance video, had the same distinct hair colour and was walking what appeared to be the same dog, why he tagged the Ten Ren mural with graffiti.
In July 2022, Vancouver police said they forwarded the file to Crown counsel for charge assessment.
“You couldn’t possibly have more evidence to apprehend this individual or charge this individual, and they just chose not to,” Spence told Global News in an interview Monday.
The BC Prosecution Service said not laying charges was the appropriate course of action after the prosecutor involved reviewed the file materials, including video evidence.
Under charge assessment guidelines, charges will only be approved where Crown counsel is satisfied the evidence gathered provides a substantial likelihood of conviction, and, if so, the public interest requires a prosecution.
“In this case, the prosecutor concluded that there was no substantial likelihood of conviction and did not approve the charge,” said communications counsel Damienne Darby in a statement.
“What the Crown typically gets for these files is a bit of a dog’s breakfast that doesn’t meet the charge approval standard,” said former Crown prosecutor and criminal lawyer Rob Dhanu.
When it comes to the criminal justice system, “property crime is always the bridesmaid and never the bride unfortunately,” Dhanu added.
Although mischief due to graffiti tagging in a culturally sensitive community is serious, Dhanu said the courts will always prioritize violent crime.
“These are the types of crimes, unfortunately, that fall through the cracks,” Dhanu told Global News.
The Crown, he said, must consider whether it can prove its case if it goes to trial.
“I think the problem here is when you look at the video surveillance evidence, we have at best a side profile shot of an individual in the dark,” said Dhanu. “He’s wearing a hat and we simply cannot see what he looks like in terms of his face.”
“It definitely stings a lot,” said Spence. “In the end, I’m happy that I reamed the individual out.”
During his video confrontation with the tagging suspect, Spence shouted, “You’re hurting people. Think about that next time you deface people’s property.”
Spence said the suspect eventually caved to his interrogation.
“I’m a lowlife scum I guess,” the man admitted on the video.
“At least as a citizen, I can give him an earful,” said Spence.