NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
www.pentictonwesternnews.com
3
news
Penticton woman poster child for organ transplant
VOL. 49 ISSUE 22
9
Stop Worrying! Get Driving with YESCARCREDIT.CA A Division of Parkers Chrysler Dodge
Jeep. DL. #5523
WEDNESDAY, March 18, 2015
entertainment Celtic Thunder rolls into the SOEC
15
sports Vees, Vipers love-hate
relationship continues to grow
DANGEROUS OFFENDER
NEWS Dale Boyd
PENTICTON WESTERN Western News Staff
The man labelled a Dangerous Offender and described as “the very definition of a psychopath” will be behind bars indefinitely. David Wesley Bobbitt, 39, sat quietly and looked down while sighs of relief were heard in the Penticton courtroom on Friday when it was announced that he could spend the rest of his life in jail. Bobbitt was convicted of brutally raping, beating and confining a woman in his second hand store in Penticton. He pleaded guilty to seven offences, including two counts of unlawful confinement or imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, two counts of uttering threats and assault with a weapon. Bobbitt was also sentenced to four years for two counts of uttering threats and ten years for two counts of unlawful confinement. Psychiatric reports from 2011 and 2013 characterized Bobbitt as a psychopath and said he was “callous, uncaring, belligerent and boastful” when recounting the events of 2011. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Rogers said that in concurrence to the statement of facts and psychiatric reports that Bobbitt “is quite satisfied with the person that he is and Mr. Bobbitt shows no interest in modifying his behaviour.” “I find that Mr. Bobbitt is the very definition of a psychopath,” said Rogers. Crown counsel Deb Drissell explained that Bobbitt’s actions July 30, 2011, subsequent psychological evaluations and allegations of previous sexual violence met the bar set for the classification. His offence alone was so brutal, she said, it indicated that future behaviour is unlikely to be inhibited by standard restraints and he will likely harm others if given the opportunity. The brutal assault took place at Dave’s Second Hand Store, which was located on Ellis Street in Penticton. The young Penticton mother, whose name is protected by a publication ban, went into the store owned by Bobbitt, to buy a bed for her 22-month-old son. As she
DAVID WESLEY BOBBITT was led from the Penticton courthouse by Sheriffs on Friday after learning he was labelled a Dangerous Offender, which puts him behind bars indefinitely.
Kristi Patton/Western News
was leaving Bobbitt knocked her down with a hammer-blow to the head. Over the course of the 15 hours that she was imprisoned, he continued to hit her with the hammer, burnt her with cigarettes, bit her and violently sexually assaulted her while threatening to turn on her child. The woman required 60 staples in her head from the hammer blow, a blood transfusion and other surgeries. At the February proceedings, Drissell read from the woman’s victim impact statement that the young mother expected she and her son would die from the attack. With that belief in her mind she removed his diaper and tried
to console him, so he’d at least be comfortable during their last hours. Family contacted RCMP when the woman did not drop off her child before she was to go to work. They began scouring Penticton and area for any signs of her. It was in the early morning hours of July 31, 2011 that the woman’s car was found with the windows rolled down and unlocked in a parking lot across the street from the store. The family began searching nearby buildings and found her. Bobbitt had already fled by the time RCMP arrived in the building. During the court proceedings two veteran
RCMP officers choked up in the courtroom as they recalled the discovery of the woman. Cpl. Brian Burke said he found the woman sitting up on a pull-out couch with her toddler son beside her, both of them covered in blood. The woman had gashes on her face and head and extensive bruising on her forearms. Cpl. Jill Wrigglesworth, who’s been on the force for 16 years, told the hearing Friday the 22-year-old female victim’s left ankle was tied to the bed. “It didn’t even look like a person at that time,” said Wrigglesworth, who also struggled for words as she described the naked, bloodied woman clutching a blanket to her chest. Bobbitt escaped the scene before police arrived and after a four-day manhunt he was discovered camping out on a piece of property in Oliver by an orchardist who then called the police. An undercover RCMP officer was planted in Bobbitt’s cell at the Penticton detachment after his arrest on Aug. 3, 2011. The officer said Bobbitt seemed angry that he was sharing the space and levelled a threat as soon as the cell door closed. “He looked at me and advised that he should kill me by biting out my Adam’s apple ... to prove how dangerous in fact he really was,” said the officer, who asked that his name not be published to protect his safety. Bobbitt described himself to the undercover officer as “Canada’s most wanted,” and boasted about the incident at the second-hand shop. He never offered an explanation for the offences. A court appointed psychologist, Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe testified Bobbitt tried to portray himself as the victim and a nonviolent person who helped people in the community. The Dangerous Offender designation has only been applied to somewhere in the area of 500 convicts Canada-wide. Individuals convicted of these offences can be designated as a Dangerous Offender during sentencing if a sentencing court is satisfied that the offender constitutes a threat to the life, safety or physical or mental well-being of the public.
150 Fairview Place, Penticton 250.493.1233 150 Fairview Place, Penticton 250.493.1233 150 Fairview Place, Penticton 250.493.1233 Spring in is the in the copy copy.indd 1 1 GEGE Spring AirAir AdAd copy copy.indd GE Spring is in is the Air Ad copy copy.indd 1
3/2/15 3/2/15 12:00 PM 12:00 3/2/15 12:00 PM PM