A 22-year-old man who pleaded guilty to assaulting bus driver Charles Dixon last year has been handed an 18-month conditional sentence.
Del Louie was sentenced in Vancouver provincial court Tuesday, where Judge Karen Walker cited the young man's difficult upbringing and penitence as mitigating factors.
"He expressed remorse early and often," Walker said, noting that his guilty plea spared victim Charles Dixon from an emotionally exhausting trial.
Louie, who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, previously pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm, and offered an apology to his victim in February.
"I'd like Mr. Dixon to know that I am truly sorry," he said.
Louie punched Dixon in the back of the head after boarding a bus through the back doors at Edmonds Station on Feb. 15, 2011. Dixon repeatedly told Louie, who was drunk at the time, to enter through the front until the young man walked up and punched him in the face, breaking his orbital bone in two places.
Dixon, who has been assaulted 14 times in his 25-year career as a driver, attended Tuesday's sentencing with his face in bandages. The driver has had to undergo multiple surgeries to repair the damage he suffered in the assault, which also left him concussed and with brain damage. He was joined by a handful of fellow bus drivers in the packed courtroom.
Louie also attacked Dixon's son, who chased him off the bus, with a piece of wood, and later spat in a paramedic's face. He will serve a three month concurrent sentence for attacking the health worker.
Walker acknowledged Louie's troubled life, being raised by divorced parents, both of whom had substance abuse problems, and attending nine different schools in Metro Vancouver and Mission.
The court heard that Louie's mother stole from him to support her drug habit, and as a result of his upbringing and FAS suffers central nervous damage, memory problems and anxiety and mood disorders.
The Crown asked for nine to 12 months in jail followed by probation, but the defence successfully argued justice could be served with a conditional sentence.
Louie was also given two years probation to be served at a treatment facility where he currently resides.
He's been ordered to serve 200 hours community service within the first year of his sentence, avoid alcohol or drugs, and have no contact with the victim.
