The recent release of a notorious Kelowna criminal is causing concerns both within the community and the B.C. legislature.
Tyler Jack Newton, 32, was let out on $500 bail Friday, weeks after being taken into custody on a B.C.-wide warrant that was issued for charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and use of an imitation firearm in relation to an incident in West Kelowna in December 2021.
It’s just one small episode in a long history of violent crimes, the most notable of which being the 2014 fatal stabbing of fellow passenger Caesar Rosales. Newton’s pattern of being in and out of jail both before and after that killing has now become a rallying point for BC Liberals who are concerned about “catch and release” issues within the courts.
“He is described in parole documents as someone with “consistent disregard for the law, pro-criminal attitudes and values and a high-risk and high-needs offender who has not mitigated that risk,” said Karin Kirkpatrick, BC Liberal MLA for West Vancouver-Capilano.
“(He’s) a prolific offender who has a history of blatantly violating release conditions, yet he faces no consequences. He has been released again because of the incoming soft-on-crime premier’s catch-and-release program.”
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She said the BC Liberals are calling for NDP government to issue a directive to Crown prosecutors, “that puts the rights of the community safety ahead of the criminals right to reoffend.”
“When will the NDP scrap this incoming soft-on-crime premier’s catch-and-release system that lets violent prolific offenders like Tyler Newton out on our streets?” she asked.
In response, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and Attorney General Murray Rankin agreed Newton was an issue.
“We obviously share the members frustration with this horrific act. We share the understanding that this cannot continue and we are taking concrete steps to address it not just within the Prosecution Service, which … is an independent branch of government making daily decisions (with) 500 talented people who choose what to do in certain circumstances are governed by the criminal law of Canada and the Charter of Rights,” Rankin said.
Rankin added that part of the issue is “unintended consequences of the bail reform act of 2019.”
“We’re working with our federal partners to address that and we’re working with local governments to take the steps necessary to deal not just with the crime, but the causes of crime as well,” he said.
That, Kilpatrick said, was too little.
Newton has a criminal record that spans more than a decade with 50-plus criminal charges. His killing of Rosales the night before Halloween in 2014 caused ripple effects across Kelowna.
In that crime, Rosales was commuting home on a city bus from his job as a systems analyst at Flight Craft. In 2016, a court heard that as they neared a bus stop on his route home, Newton, in a state of drug-fuelled psychosis, stabbed Rosales in the neck and fled into the night.
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During his four years of imprisonment for that crime, numerous parole documents outlined Newton’s behaviour as problematic, both behind bars and while granted limited freedoms.
The parole board once wrote that Newton continued to engage “in high-risk and risk-relevant behaviour while supervised. (He has) a significant court history and (has) demonstrated a consistent disregard for the law,” read the document.
Because of this, the parole board said he was “unreliable and unpredictable when in the community.”
For those who witnessed his crime the concerns related to that assessment are significant.
Barb Dawson was on the bus the night Rosales was killed and was in court two years later when Newton was sentenced. On the latter occasion, she said it was Newton’s eyes that stood out to her.
“Empty. (There was) no sense of empathy, compassion, nothing,” Dawson said. “All I saw was anger.”
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While Newton is not in custody, he will be back in court for an appearance on Nov. 2.
– with files from Global News’ Simon Little
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