A Trail man who burned down his father’s house and then beat a vulnerable 78-year-old stranger to death on the city’s main street has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for manslaughter.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crossin, sitting in Rossland, said the Crown’s evidence for the murder charge against Joel Aaron Thomas Anderson fell short of the mark but did meet the standard for a manslaughter conviction.
“Mr. Anderson committed a horrific, cowardly and senseless act of violence,” Crossin said.
Crossin convicted Anderson in the Aug. 22, 2017 death of Harold Paddock.
Paddock, using of a walker, was slowly making his way across the street when Anderson abruptly attacked him and beat him death.
“It was a brutal and unprovoked assault on a completely vulnerable and defenceless stranger,” Crossin said. “Mr. Paddock was then left by Mr. Anderson lying bloodied and unconscious in the middle of the street. He never regained consciousness and died approximately one month following the attack.”
“Mr. Paddock had his life snatched away in a matter of seconds.”
The judge said Paddock’s injuries included a skull fracture, fractures to his upper and lower jaw, and his nose.
“Anderson was wearing steel toed boots” Crossin said, noting Anderson stomped on Paddock’s head with his boots. “He kicked Mr. Paddock to death while Mr. Paddock lay wholly powerless on the pavement of the street.”
At the time of the death, Crossin said, Anderson “was then 25 years of age, having essentially led a wasted life to that date by reason of mental illness; aggravated by chronic drug abuse; all having contributed to a history of criminal activity; some of which was defined by outbursts of violence, largely directed at persons known to him, including intimate partners.”
On the day in question, Anderson had gone to the house of his father who was away at the time.
“Anderson entered the home and as a consequence of auditory delusion, fuelled by drugs and anger, he lit the home ablaze and departed, making his way on foot back to downtown Trail,” Crossin said.
Anderson later pleaded guilty to arson.
The court heard Anderson was a methamphetamine user and had used some of the drug while at his father’s home.
After leaving Paddock, Crossin said Anderson met up with someone else involved in Trail’s drug underworld, got into an argument and assaulted the person with a coffee pot.
Anderson has been convicted of 14 offences involving violence, including threats of violence. He has six convictions for breaches of court orders, including two convictions for breach of conditional sentence orders.
Crossin noted Anderson has already been warned by the courts that his situation would worsen if he did not get help for his drug problems.
