For brazenly taking a baseball bat to a man’s head in an Econo Lodge Inn parking lot, a well-known Kelowna, B.C., criminal will spend another 601 days in prison.
On Aug. 14, 2021, George Young, 43, assaulted Tyler Takeda with a baseball bat in a Kelowna hotel parking lot while collecting on a drug debt. The attack was in front of hotel guests, who appeared from CCTV footage to be “startled and upset” before calling 911.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Gomery sentenced the long-term offender last month to 5.5 years in prison for aggravated assault, less 1,407 days for time served, thus the truncated sentence. He will also be under supervision for the decade that follows and has been deemed a long-term offender.
“In this case, Mr. Young’s lengthy criminal record for crimes of violence constitutes a powerful aggravating factor,” Gomery said in sentencing.
“His record dates back to 1997 when he was convicted of assault with a weapon as a young offender. It includes offences resulting in penitentiary sentences in 2000, 2003, and 2011; a 2018 conviction for robbing a stranger at a bank machine; and a 2019 conviction for an assault causing bodily harm to a girlfriend.”
This high-profile assault followed another incident from New Year’s Day 2010, when Young was accused of running over and dragging a man named Joel Reimer to his death. For that, he was convicted of criminal negligence causing death and failing to remain at the scene.
In this most recent case, however, Gomery said an aggravating factor is that the crime was committed in broad daylight, “in the presence of members of the public in circumstances likely to shock their comfort and sense of security in the community.”
Working in Young’s favour, Gomery said he made good use of his most recent period of incarceration at the Okanagan Correctional Centre while awaiting trial and sentencing for this offence.
“He has mostly stayed out of trouble, functioned as a peer mentor, and obtained certificates of achievement reflecting his completion of courses addressing employability skills, healthy relationships, victim awareness, anger management, living with pain and loss, relapse prevention, substance abuse, and living without violence,” Gomery said.
Gomery also took into account that Young had a less-than-ideal upbringing marred by poverty, physical abuse and substance abuse.
“It is fair to say that Mr. Young’s family background and family history echo those of many Indigenous accused persons and offenders who find themselves in court,” Gomery said. “Abuse, a broken home, and ineffective social supports, together with his experience in the criminal justice system have contributed to making him an alcoholic, an addict, and a prolific offender.”