If it wasn't for a surgeon’s skills, a 20-year-old B.C. man could have been facing a murder charge, a Crown lawyer told a Vancouver Provincial Court judge Jan. 4.
On June 28, 2023, Seth Nathaniel Illing pleaded guilty to aggravated assault stemming from a situation in Vancouver’s David Lam Park where another man was hit over the head with a baton.
After a day-long sentencing hearing Thursday, Judge David St. Pierre sentenced Illing to time served plus two days as well as three years’ probation.
It was an Aug. 14, 2021 dispute among partying teens that began with some jibes about people’s social media names. It soon turned into a brawl with the baton attack and a skateboard being hurled at someone else’s head.
It was, said defence lawyer Leo Fumano, “a drunken melee in a park late at night.”
The man sustained a skull fracture and had to undergo emergency surgery at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) to save his life.
Even then, Crown prosecutor Joseph Marin told the judge, the victim’s chances of surviving surgery were 50/50. He was 19.
“But for the skills of a VGH brain surgeon, Mr. Illing would be facing a murder charge,” Marin said.
The victim, who Glacier Media has chosen not to name, wrote a victim impact statement for the court.
He said he’s afraid to go out at night, has nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder, sleeps with a knife or golf club for protection, has trust issues and has physical problems with coordination and balance.
And, he’s been told to no longer play contact sports as a brain injury could kill him.
“I feel shattered and broken,” he said. “I try not to let the darkness take control.”
The Crown wanted two years less a day in provincial custody while the defence wanted time served. Illing has spent 282 days in custody (credited at 423 days) but has had some release breaches that resulted in him consenting to being held permanently.
“I’m asking your honour to jail him for (time) which he has already served,” Fumano said.
Marin said a youth co-accused pleaded guilty to assault and received nine months' jail.
Addressing the court, Illing expressed remorse.
“If I could take back what I did, I would,” he told St. Pierre. “I’ve caused a lot of grief to the victim and his family. I am sorry. I chose to make that mistake that night and I changed a lot of people’s lives.”
The events
The court heard the victim had travelled to Vancouver to hang out with an old friend. They’d spent some time on the Granville Street strip before meeting some girls — ranging in age from 16 to 20 — from Nanaimo, one of whom was celebrating her birthday.
They’d gone to the park to hang out. Illing’s group was also there.
One of the girls went over to chat with Illing’s group and others followed.
The court heard one girl made a disparaging remark about the social media name of one of Illing’s group. That person took offence, called her names and suggested she kiss his shoes while he filmed it.
She refused and was then pushed to the ground and struck with a blunt object.
It was then that the victim came to the girl’s defence and a fight began.
Illing pulled a baton from his pants and struck the 19-year-old.
Police were called and the victim wound up at VGH with a skull fracture, brain bleed and a blood clot.
“Emergency surgery was required to save his life,” Marin said. “He was in a coma for a time.”
Illing was soon found with the baton, a folding knife and bear spray. He later told police he carried weapons because he spent time in the Downtown Eastside where his mother lived.
“He seems to display no insight into this being a problem,” Marin said of the weapons.
He was arrested and released but taken back into custody Oct. 14, 2021.
Asked by police why he’d hit the man, Illing told police, “I’m pretty sure he did something.”
Asked if he wanted to hurt the victim, Illing said, “I didn’t mean to almost kill him but I wanted to hurt him obviously.”
Illing posted about the incident on social media and even commented on one of the victim’s friend’s posts of him in hospital.
“Cracked some heads this night,” he posted a day after the event.
On a picture of the man in hospital, Illing posted crying emojiis and commented, “put your homey in ICU, goofs.”
Marin called the comments “callous bordering on nihilist . . . just disgusting posts concerning the person he had put in the hospital.”
Illing later wrote a letter of apology to the victim saying he didn’t realize the man was defending a woman.
Illing’s life
Judge St. Pierre heard Illing’s parents are divorced, and that he spent his time between his father in Kitimat and his mother who lived in Surrey and later Vancouver.
He heard Illing has had drug issues since his early teens and was introduced to fentanyl and heroin by his mother.
The father was a stern disciplinarian, and the young Illing was exposed to his mother being a sex worker, the court heard.
She appeared in court Thursday just as the morning break was being taken.
“He’s a good boy,” she said. “He’s just acting out.”
She did not return for the rest of the hearing.
“He wasn’t groomed for pro-social living,” Fumano said.
Marin said Illing has been taking methadone to get off drugs and that he wants to have a normal life.
“He has insight that his drug addiction is going to get in the way of this,” Marin added.
Judge’s comments
St. Pierre acknowledged Illing has had a rough start in life and encouraged him to take advantage of what is available for him while on probation.
“You’ve had a lifetime of difficult struggles,” the judge said. “You’ve got years’ worth of life ahead of you. You can change it right now. Get yourself in a spot where you’re helping people, not harming them.”
