B.C. shopkeeper who confined and viciously attacked woman denied parole

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details. Reader discretion is advised.

A Penticton, B.C., shopkeeper who in 2011 viciously attacked and confined a young mother in his store as her toddler looked on has been denied parole.

David Wesley Bobbit, 48, was the subject of a Parole Board of Canada hearing earlier this month and for the second time failed to regain any freedom after it was decided he remains a violent risk to society, unable to accept responsibility for the crimes he committed.

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The parole board said Bobbitt instead offers “fantastical explanations about having been in a relationship with the victim, about her being connected to a gang that was out to get (him),” and offers claims that pain medication influenced his decision to sexually assault and torture the woman.

Bobbit has been in prison since March 2015, when he was convicted of forcible confinement, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, uttering threats and assault with a weapon for the 2011 attack of a woman who went with her young child to his shop. He could remain in prison indefinitely, due to his designation as a dangerous offender.

During this decision process, however, the parole board highlighted the events of 2011, explaining that a young woman and her child went into Bobbitt’s shop looking for an item.

“As she was leaving the store and holding her child, (Bobbitt) struck her on the back of the head with a hammer,” the parole board wrote in its decision, which was released on Tuesday.

He continued to hit her head, asking her why “she just wouldn’t die.”

Then he continued to beat her, tied her up in the back of the store and sexually assaulted her. He threatened to kill her young child, who was looking on, if she couldn’t make the child quiet, the parole board explained.

Eventually, when someone banged on the door, he stole money from the woman’s handbag and fled the scene.

The woman, who continues to suffer from the traumas he put her through, has needed significant medical interventions in the time that’s passed.

As for Bobbitt, his behaviour while in prison has been far from ideal.

“Most recently on March 09, 2024, Bobbitt threatened staff completing a mid-day range walk by stating ‘I just want to knock you the f*** out! Come in my cell, open the door,'” he said.

When advised he would be institutionally charged, he carried on by daring officers to charge him.

“‘Just open my door so I can f***you up! I’m going to kill you! Yeah, I’m gonna get you,’” the parole board wrote.

Of concern, the parole board said, is that his threats often come without provocation.

“It is the board’s opinion you will by reoffending, present an undue risk to society if released, and your release will not contribute to the protection of society by facilitating your reintegration as a law-abiding citizen,” the parole board wrote to Bobbitt upon denying his release.

It continued to say that his crime “was not a single fleeting error in judgement, it was an hours long incident that involved gratuitous violence.”

The nature of the 2011 attack was vicious, and mirrored crimes Bobbitt had previously committed. That is part of what led him to being labelled a dangerous offender.

Plans are being made to address his ongoing issues and the board said his sentence is being tailored to fit his individual circumstances.