A Prince George drug-house operator who cut off the finger of one of his salesmen because he failed to turn in $170 has been sentenced to eight years in jail.

Scott Brian Payne, 24, was part of a gang that sold crack cocaine in the northern B.C. city.

In 2004, one his dealers came up $170 short, so Payne cut off one of the man's fingers and put it on display in a box.

Less than a year later, another salesman came up $300 short. Payne watched his associate beat the man up with a medieval battle axe.

Even though Payne didn't actually swing the axe, he was found to be involved in the attack.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glen Parrett found that to Payne and his gang, chopping off fingers and beating people up were almost routine.

He also noted that Payne has a history of weapons offences and convictions for violence dating back to 1998, when he lived in the Lower Mainland.

Parrett said the young man's life has been "a struggle for survival, where being tough and taking advantage of people and situations was for him a necessity."

Payne's mother abandoned him when he was five, leaving him in the care of his father who was abusive and violent and now serving a jail sentence in the U.S.

The judge, who released his ruling Tuesday, said he felt sorry for Payne, but he had to send a message to violent drug offenders.