A Chilliwack man received a five-year prison sentence for nearly stabbing another man to death over loud music.
The B.C. Supreme Court judge found it 'ludicrous' that David Jonathan Michael Kehoe, 30, claimed the aggravated assault was actually an act of self-defence.
According to the court judgment, Kehoe was returning to his home after a night that involved a few beers in August 2018 when he heard loud music outside his suite. Outside were three young men, including the victim—who is identified in the court decision as a Mr. Sagrott.
Kehoe began yelling at them.
“When they did not appear to notice him, he threw eggs at them,” Supreme Court Justice Alan Ross said in his decisions for sentencing.
The egg-throwing didn’t get much attention either. Kehoe then went to an apartment door to confront them, which led to a physical confrontation involving a Taser baton by one of the three men. They then left.
Kehoe returned to his apartment only to emerge again, this time wearing a hoodie with a large kitchen knife in the pocket. He was caught on surveillance video trailing the three.
As he approached, he produced the knife.
The intoxicated Sagrott stopped, possibly in an attempt to calm things down.
“He posed no threat to Mr. Kehoe,” Ross said.
Kehoe stabbed Sagrott twice, once in his chest and once in his side. He was immediately taken to hospital. He suffered a traumatic right punctured lung, internal bleeding, a liver laceration and leakage of injected medication into the surrounding tissue.
“Without surgery, he would have died,” Ross said.
The court heard Kehoe has a history of violent offences and that he attempted to go after the others after stabbing Sagrott.
“He was only deterred by being struck on the head by Mr. Silvester's baton,” Ross said.
With credit for time already in jail, Kehoe’s time to be served is 1,434 days or 3.9 years.
