A man who slashed two people with a machete in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside three years ago, nearly decapitating one of them, has been sentenced to six years in prison.
But after credit for time served, Kenneth Solowan will serve just under two more years behind bars, followed by two years of probation.
“Lives have been irreparably and irrevocably changed for the worse,” B.C. Provincial Court Judge David St. Pierre said.
“It was a horrific offence,” he added, a “vicious, unprovoked attack on unsuspecting victims.”
Solowan pleaded guilty in December 2023 to the grisly June 19, 2022, attack in front of the Empress Hotel near Main and East Hastings streets.
The victims were loading luggage into a taxi at the time when Crown prosecutor Jim Cryder said they faced a “horrific attack involving the use of a potentially lethal weapon on random strangers.”
One of the victims was hit in the back of the neck and suffered nerve damage. A 49-year-old man was also injured.
Neither of the victims appeared in court on Wednesday, but the Crown provided the judge with victim impact statements that were not read aloud in court.
One of the victims described serious ongoing impacts to her mental and physical health, including mood swings, anxiety and chronic pain.
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The victim had been successful in business and the arts, and is now moving through shelters, the court heard.
“Her life has really diminished in quality since this incident,” the court heard. “She hasn’t been able to recover from this incident.”
According to a pre-sentencing report, Solowan asserts Cherokee and Mohawk Indigenous heritage through his mother and father, respectively, something he only learned recently, but there was limited information to confirm that. He was taken from his family as a youth and raised by other households and institutions.
He is a chronic substance user and “doesn’t seem to want to participate in rehabilitation,” the report stated.
The pre-sentence report stated Solowan believed he suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, a forensic mental health report diagnosed him with anti-social personality disorder and substance use disorder.
The psych report noted he had been out of custody for six weeks before the attack, was homeless, and was using cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and other drugs in the Downtown Eastside.
Solowan had been using multiple substances heavily at the time of the offence, and was hiding a machete behind an umbrella leading up to the attack.
The report concluded he would likely use substances again which, combined with his psychological disorder, creates a high risk for him to reoffend.
Solowan addressed the court, apologizing to the victims and to the public. “From the deepest of my heart … I truly am sorry,” he said.
“This kind of shook me to my core, this crime I committed”
Crown argued Solowan should face six years in prison.
While Solowan has shown remorse and did plead guilty, Cryder noted the attack came from behind, and was perpetrated by a man with 46 prior convictions, including one for aggravated assault.
He also pointed to the forensic report’s suggestion Solowan was of a high risk to reoffend and has shown little history of managing his substance use.
Defence lawyer Paul McMurray sought a three-year suspended sentence under community supervision, with conditions to address mental health and substance use issues.
“This is a challenging case,” he told the court.
“The circumstances are horrendous … the circumstances of Mr. Solowan I would describe as horrendous as well.”
McMurray highlighted that Solowan had a “significant history of substance abuse, family violence and lack of employment.”
He said his client was seriously drug addicted and living in the DTES, and had been significantly intoxicated when he committed the attack.
In accepting the Crown’s submission, St. Pierre acknowledged Solowan’s Indigenous background and that “he has not had an easy go of it.”
But he concluded that “the safety of the public is my primary concern,” and that “you can’t shield yourself from the consequences of your behaviour by raising untreated addictions.”
Solowan has been in custody since Oct. 9, 2022.
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