Victim of kidnapping case texted his mother for help, court hears as details revealed in B.C. sentencing hearing

(File photo from pexels.com / Kindel Media)

Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find disturbing or graphic.

Details of a kidnapping and assault in Gibsons, B.C., were outlined in the sentencing of three men convicted in the case from 2019.

The men accused of aggravated assault and kidnapping all pleaded not guilty, but changed their pleas the day after the trial began.

The judge accepted pleas from David Carmichael and Sean Lizee with respect to kidnapping, and from Matthew Braun to aggravated assault.

The remaining charges were stayed.

They learned their sentences in a Vancouver courtroom back in November, and a transcript of the judge's ruling was posted online earlier this month.

In her reasons for sentencing, Justice Shelley C. Fitzpatrick provided an overview of what is alleged to have happened, as presented by Crown counsel and the defence ahead of the hearing. Both legal teams agreed to the circumstances surrounding the case.

Because the trial stopped short, many of the details were not made public until the men were sentenced.

ARGUMENT TURNED PHYSICAL

According to court documents, victim Warren Paine met up with Braun and Lizzee at a friend's house for drinks on April 17, 2019. The three then went to a local pub to drink with Carmichael.

During that time, some or all of the three accused in the case began to accuse Paine of "various matters" tied to a fire at a grow operation that occurred years earlier. Further details were not included on the fire or these accusations, but the judge said Paine tried to change the subject unsuccessfully.

They spent hours at the pub, then went back to Braun's home.

That's when things got heated to the point of "various physical altercations," Justice Fitzpatrick said.

Paine said everyone was drunk at this point, and the situation devolved to screaming, punching and breaking glass. At one point, the judge said, Carmichael and Lizee burned Paine's face and hands.

'HAPLESS' MOVES

In the early morning hours of April 18, Paine was told by the other three men that he was going to be taken to Vancouver, via the ferry from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay.

"Mr. Paine describes that he was forced into the back seat of Mr. Lizee's SUV," the judge said, and warned not to try to escape.

The men appeared to have a plan, intending to catch the 6:20 a.m. ferry.

"However, in what was perhaps the first hapless move of the day, they arrived too late to catch the ferry," Fitzpatrick said.

They went back to Braun's house, and Paine said he didn't even try to escape, because he was scared, injured and dazed.

The second "hapless move," Fitzpatrick wrote, was that the men didn't think to take away their captive's phone, so he was able to send text messages to his mother, asking for help.

The accused found out about those messages, and it was at that time, Fitzpatrick wrote, that "matters took a very unfortunate turn."

"Mr. Paine describes that Mr. Braun went 'ballistic' and smashed a beer bottle to Mr. Paine's face."

Braun injured himself with this action as well, the judge said.

'MADE A RUN FOR IT'

The third hapless move, she listed, was that as the accused cleaned the blood from Paine's face, one of them went outside to urinate and left the door open.

"Then, Mr. Paine, as the saying goes, made a run for it."

Video captured from a neighbouring home showed Paine running into the street, the judge said. He was picked up by his mother and her husband, who at this point knew where he was and were circling the area.

Paine was taken to a local hospital, but his injuries were deemed serious enough for him to require transport by air to Vancouver General Hospital.

He needed several surgeries for his face.

"His face was smashed in; he could not breathe; blood was running into his lungs; his orbital eye was smashed and out of the socket and had to be stapled back in; he had burns on his cheeks, upper lip, chin and hand, arising (from) the actions of Mr. Lizee and Mr. Carmichael; his mouth needed to be wired together from the beer bottle smashing his jaw as thrown by Mr. Braun; some teeth were broken off; he had to have metal plates inserted all around his facial area," the judge listed.

He'll need substantial dental surgery estimated to cost nearly $28,000.

'FAMILY MEN': SENTENCING DETAILS

The judge gave specific details about each of the three accused, including that Braun had a previous criminal record but it was so dated that she opted to deal with him as though he did not.

Character references spoke highly of him, "(making) the situation perhaps even more puzzling," she said.

He was sentenced to two years in prison, and ordered to pay a restitution order to Paine of $9,208.33, as well as a $100 victim surcharge. On the advice of his counsel, with support from the Crown, the judge recommended he be placed at an institution on Vancouver Island so he can be close to his family. He was convicted of aggravated assault, but the kidnapping charge was stayed.

Lizee and Carmichael were both charged with kidnapping, but their aggravated assault charges were stayed.

Both men were sentenced to three years behind bars, in addition to having to pay the same restitution order and victim surcharge as included in Braun's sentence. As with Braun, the judge will recommend they serve their time at William Head Institution, a minimum-security federal corrections institution in Metchosin.

All three are banned from owning firearms for 10 years.

Fitzpatrick said Lizee had no criminal record, but that his lawyer said he has addictions to alcohol and drugs, and is working through a treatment program.

Carmichael said he has quit drinking, admitting to "being a binge drinker, which is what he asserts happened here."

All three were described by the judge as "family men," and all three had character witnesses who claimed their behaviour was out of character. Carmichael's included an assessment from the mayor of Powell River.

"They have all, to this point in time, conducted themselves properly and legally in their daily lives without incident," Fitzpatrick wrote.

"This incident does seem to be unusual behaviour on the part of all three men. As I said, the incident was driven by any number of circumstances here, including the consumption of a large amount of alcohol."

She called Paine's kidnapping "a fairly unusual one," in that it was not pre-planned or premeditated, but instead seemed to be a case where things "spiralled out of control."

Fitzpatrick said this doesn't excuse anyone's actions, "but it makes the situation somewhat more understandable."