A feud between two Delta Secondary school male students over a decade ago has resulted in the father of one having to pay damages for orchestrating an assault of the other.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge last week awarded damages amounting to $479,376.88 to the one former student, now 26, for damages that were the result of the April 15, 2009 assault which occurred outside the high school.
Convicted two years later of two counts of assault causing bodily harm for his role in directing the incident, the father of the other student denied liability.
The reasons for judgment in the civil trial notes that while acknowledging the plaintiff was injured as a result of the battery, the father’s defence was that all of the plaintiff’s injuries resolved themselves within a short period of time with no lasting effects.
The father maintained that some of the injuries and symptoms of the plaintiff complained of at trial were not caused by the battery, while others were concocted.
The plaintiff, who was in Grade 9 at the time of the incident, was reportedly assaulted moments after he left the grounds of the high school to walk home.
Acting on the instruction of the defendant, two adult males, one or both wielding telescopic metal batons, jumped out of a vehicle driven by the defendant, ran after the teen and physically assaulted him.
When they paused upon the father’s instruction, the teen was then physically assaulted by the father’s eldest son.
When another student standing nearby tried to prevent the father from joining in the assault, the father head-butted him, court transcripts note, adding that after his son assaulted the teen, the father walked over to the victim and said words to the effect, “Are we even now?”
The assault on the teen is said to be revenge for a high school spat between the plaintiff and defendant’s other, younger son, also then a student at Delta Secondary, over a female student.
In one incident, the younger son told the plaintiff that he kissed the plaintiff’s girlfriend.
A short time later, they exchanged verbal insults. Feeling threatened, the plaintiff struck the younger son in the face and, after that, they parted ways and had no further interaction.
The reasons for judgment also notes that while the father admits the plaintiff suffered a concussion, black eyes and fractured nose, he disputes the claim concerning headaches, back pain, and mental health issues and argued causation has not been proven.
The trial seeking damages commenced earlier this year and the defendant was self-represented for part of the trial.
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