3 guilty in B.C. attack caught on YouTube
Last Updated: Thursday, July 29, 2010 | 5:37 PM PT
CBC News
Jay Phillips fights off three white attackers in a video of the incident in Courtenay, B.C., posted on YouTube (YouTube)A B.C. provincial court judge has found three Vancouver Island men guilty of assault in an attack on a black man, the video of which was posted on YouTube last year.
Judge Peter Doherty said the actions of the men who swarmed Jay Phillips in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant in Courtenay, B.C., on July 3, 2009, were fuelled by alcohol, testosterone and immaturity.
"The acid fog of racism permeates this case," Doherty said on Thursday as he handed down his ruling against David Samuel White, 19; Robert William Rogers, 25; and Adam David Huber, 24.
Doherty said that while the fight was consensual, Phillips was injured when he was kicked by Rogers and since all three accused were party to the offence, all three are guilty of common assault.
A date for a sentencing hearing will be set on Aug. 12. A determination on whether the attack will be considered a hate crime will be made at sentencing, which is expected to take place in September.
Phillips's mother, Kirsten, said she hopes the men receive a stiff sentence.
"We're going to go on with it, you know," she said. "We're happy with things and hope at sentencing time that they'll get more than a slap on the wrist."
A video of the incident taken by a bystander and posted on YouTube shows Phillips, 38, being punched and kicked and fighting back as he is surrounded by three men.
During the trial, Phillips testified the men yelled racist slurs at him and threatened to kill his family unless he got out of their white town.
With files from The Canadian Press
