Having spent slightly more than two years in custody, Robert Oliver Nelson will serve a further eight months behind bars for the July 2009 manslaughter death of Darren Lee Paterson, B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams ruled Monday.
Nelson, 36, was sentenced to five years in jail but received two-for-one credit for the two years and two months he had already spent in custody in acknowledgment of a lack of access to rehabilitation programs over that time.
The House of Commons has since changed the law so that inmates receive only one-for-one credit for time served prior to sentencing but Nelson's case predates that
legislation, Williams said.
Nelson was found guilty in late August of the charge following a nine day trial that hinged on whether Nelson committed the attack and whether Paterson died from the injury he sustained or from any of a number of other ailments he suffered.
A witness identified Nelson as the man who got out of a taxi cab in front of a Quince Street home on July 14, 2009 and struck Paterson in the torso with a collapsible baton and then punched him in the head during an argument over money Nelson had advanced Paterson to get a tattoo done.
The punch knocked Paterson to the ground and left him dazed or unconscious for a few minutes before he got back up, by which time Nelson left in the taxi cab.
Paterson made his way home from where he called an ambulance about an hour after the incident, which occurred around 3 p.m., telling personnel he had been punched by someone but refused to name his assailant.
He underwent cranial surgery about two hours later but the effort was not successful and Paterson, who was 29 years old, died at about 10 p.m.
In giving reasons for sentencing, Williams said Nelson's criminal record amounted to 67 prior convictions, but all for property offences or non-compliance with orders and the present offence is his first conviction for personal violence.
Williams also found Nelson to be truly sorry and remorseful for his actions but also found he sought out Paterson to "inflict at least some personal harm."
"Mr. Nelson attempted to sent a 'law of the street' message, effectively, 'you better pay me or you'll be sorry," Williams said.
In passing sentence, Williams also recommended Nelson serve his time somewhere other than Prince George Regional Correctional Centre, possibly in Kamloops or Victoria. Upon finishing his term, Nelson must also serve two years probation and Williams strongly suggested he enter a treatment program at a residential facility for anger management and substance abuse.
"I really hope things can work out for you because if you find yourself back before the court, there really will be fewer options for you," Williams told Nelson in a closing comment.
