Convicted gay-basher Shawn Woodward failed in his attempt to have his assault sentence reduced. (CBC) B.C.'s highest court has rejected the appeal of a man convicted after sucker-punching a Vancouver bar patron, leaving him severely brain damaged.

Shawn Woodward will have to serve out his six-year prison sentence for an assault on William Dowrey, that occurred in March 2009 at the Fountainhead Pub, a well-known Davie Street gay bar.

The attack was deemed a hate crime by the court during sentencing.

Dowrey, then 61, twice approached Woodward, then 36, in the bar— once to buy him a drink, the next to play pool. Woodward declined on both occasions.

The court heard in the original trial that when he later was leaving the bar, Woodward sought Dowrey out and, without warning, punched him in the face with such force that the older man fell unconscious to the ground and hit his head, suffering brain damage.

"He's a faggot," Woodward was heard saying after the attack. "He deserved it."

Dowrey was left incapable of living without assistance with daily activities like eating and dressing.

Premeditated

The original trial judge, Justice Jocelyn Palmer, found Woodward went out of his way to attack Dowrey, and noted that the accused admitted in court that the attack was motivated by the hate of homosexuals

Victim William Dowrey was left brain-damaged after a gay-bashing attack. (CBC) In his appeal, Woodward argued his homophobia was given too much weight in sentencing, that he didn't go looking for trouble that night and, essentially, that Dowrey ultimately caused the assault.

The appeal court disagreed, saying Woodward's sucker punch was premeditated. He could have simply left the bar, but didn't.

"The sentence [the trial judge] imposed is a fit one," Justice David Frankel wrote in his decision, released Friday.

The two other judges on the appeal court panel concurred with Frankel's conclusion.

With files from the CBC's Priya Ramu