James Vessey's life changed foreve=
r last June 2 when he crossed paths with a violent young stranger in a B=
edford parking lot.
The 20-year-old was sitting in his car mindin=
g his own business at about 9:30 p.m., waiting to meet up with some frie=
nds to watch a Stanley Cup playoff game.
The other young man, a H=
alifax teenager whose name can't be published, had been drinking and wen=
t looking for trouble after he thought Vessey looked at him the wrong wa=
y.
The 16-year-old boy walked up to Vessey's car window and, afte=
r a brief exchange of words, reached in and stabbed him in the chest.
Vessey staggered into a nearby Tim Hortons clutching his chest and =
collapsed on the floor, his blood pooling around him.
The knife h=
ad just missed Vessey's heart, puncturing the sac around it. Doctors at =
the Halifax Infirmary performed open-heart surgery to save his life.
=
The teenager was arrested three days later and charged with attempte=
d murder and two other offences. He spent 10 days in custody before the =
Crown agreed to his release with electronic monitoring.
The boy, =
who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty in January to aggravated=
assault and possession of a weapon. He returned to Halifax youth court =
Wednesday for sentencing.
Judge Pam Williams accepted a joint sen=
tencing recommendation from Crown attorney John Nisbet and defence lawye=
r Stan MacDonald. The boy, now 17, won't serve any time in jail but will=
be under strict supervision for two years.
Williams sentenced th=
e teen to four months of deferred custody and supervision in the communi=
ty, followed by 20 months of probation. He has to provide a sample of hi=
s DNA to police for a national databank and is prohibited from having we=
apons for five years.
The boy will be subject to a 9:30 p.m. curf=
ew for the first four months of his sentence and an 11 p.m. curfew for t=
he next eight. He has to be employed or enrolled in an education program=
and can't consume alcohol or drugs, have any contact with the victim or=
associate with anyone with a criminal record.
The judge also ord=
ered that he receive counselling for mental health, anger management and=
violence intervention and prevention.
The boy spent the first se=
ven years of his life in war-torn Kosovo, where he witnessed gunfire, de=
ad bodies and houses being burned. His family had to live in the woods a=
fter they were chased from their home by the Serbs.
The teen didn=
't adapt to life in Canada as readily as the rest of the family, the jud=
ge said. Prior to the stabbing, he left home and was hanging around with=
the wrong people.
The boy and Vessey were both surrounded by fam=
ily members in the courtroom Wednesday.
Vessey, now 21, got his f=
ather Ian to read his victim impact statement to the court.
=93Wh=
ile I was lying on the floor of Tim Hortons .... I thought I was going t=
o die,=94 Vessey wrote.
=93The things I felt that night are burne=
d into my memory forever. It crosses my mind and it all feels real again=
.
=93If I'd done something bad enough to someone else to lose my =
life, it would be different, but this was done to me for no reason. Beca=
use of this experience, I question life in general, and it has shown me =
how ruthless human beings can be.=94
Vessey said his breast bone =
and chest still ache at times and he has flashbacks and sleepless nights=
.
=93I would like to see justice carried out and know that the ac=
cused is aware he nearly took my life and could have been charged with m=
urder. He had no reason to attack me that night. I hope he understands h=
e cannot behave this way in the future.=94
Vessey's father also r=
ead out his own statement.
=93Leading up to this sentencing heari=
ng has caused all the Vessey family to relive this horrible event,=94 Ia=
n Vessey said. =93As recently as two weeks ago, James called me at work =
to ask if I could come home to be with him, as he did not feel comfortab=
le being by himself.
=93I want the court to be aware that ... Jam=
es and my family will never be the same ... because of this random and v=
iolent attack. The psychological damage and the fear for our personal sa=
fety will stay with us for the rest of our lives.=94
Given a chan=
ce to address the court, the boy apologized to his victim.
=93I r=
ealize I shouldn't have did it and it's time for me to smarten up,=94 th=
e teen said.
One of his older brothers also expressed his remorse=
to the Vessey family.
=93I say this from the bottom of my heart =
=97 we do understand what you guys went through and we do not wish this =
to happen to anybody,=94 the man said.
=93We apologize and hope t=
hat James ... recovers and is able to get his life on track.=94
H=
e said no one ever thought his brother was capable of such violence. =93=
As his older brother, I cannot imagine what was going through his mind. =
But I can tell you (from) the last 10 months, he deeply, deeply regrets =
it.=94
The boy knows the pain he's caused to both families, his b=
rother said.
(sbruce@herald.ca)