The teenager who admitted to brutally beating a Kamloops man with a longboard will not serve any jail time for the vicious assault.
Michael Forry, 46, was in a coma for several weeks after the March 2013 incident, which happened after he approached a group of teens outside a 7-Eleven convenience store.
His attacker was 15 years old at the time.
A judge delivered the unnamed teen’s sentence Friday, handing him two years of probation instead of any time behind bars.
Forry said he initially wanted vengeance against the youth, but after learning about his troubled childhood and listening to the teenager’s tearful apology in court, he’s had a change of heart.
“If he goes to jail for any length of time he’ll come out in a body bag or kill someone else and then where will we be?” Forry said.
“The only thing I can hope is that he does get enough consequence that he changes. Then he can have a longer life – he’s only 16 now.”
The court also heard that Forry wasn’t entirely innocent in the altercation; he was allegedly intoxicated and had threatened the youth for jaywalking in front of the car Forry was a passenger in.
A witness said after the attack, the teenager went into the 7-Eleven, referred to the assault as “self-defence,” then laughed about it.
The teenager, who lives in a foster home, is barred from owning a skateboard during his probation and will be put in an intervention program.
Forry, a single father, sustained injuries so serious doctors had to remove part of his skull to reduce the swelling in his brain. He has no memory of the assault.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Kent Molgat
