A Crown prosecutor has asked that a North Vancouver man found guilty of a brutal attack inside a Phillip Avenue bungalow be sent to jail for 10 to 12 years.
At a recent sentencing hearing, Crown counsel Curt Johnson asked for the lengthy sentence for Paul Joseph Defaveri, 51, who was convicted in August of aggravated assault in connection with a violent beating tied to marijuana grow-ops on the North Shore.
During the trial, the victim, Ronald Perry, described in horrific detail how on Sept. 2, 2009, he was hit from behind with a hammer, had his eyes gouged with someone's fingers and was bound with zap straps before being stuffed in a vehicle and driven to Vancouver, where he was found by a passerby.
Perry had gone to the house to try to make a deal with the boss of a criminal gang who was angry with him for Perry's earlier involvement in a grow-rip of a marijuana operation in Lions Bay.
Perry never saw who hit him from behind, although he said Defaveri - one of two men living in the house - was present when the attack began.
A second man charged in the case, Robin Pryce, was found not guilty after Judge Steven Merrick ruled there was no evidence Pryce was home when the attack happened.
But Merrick said Defaveri's fingerprint in Perry's blood was compelling evidence of his involvement in the violence.
Johnson called for a long jail sentence, calling the attack a "crime of horror" that lasted eight or nine hours. Evidence in the case included blood spatter patterns on the ceiling of the bungalow.
Perry was blinded in one eye and has limited vision in the other, said Johnson, despite numerous surgeries. He also suffered a fracture to the base of his skull and spent 11 days in hospital.
Defaveri has described himself as an accomplished marijuana grow operator on the North Shore, Johnson noted.
"People involved in the drug trade who are convicted of harsh offences must be met with harsh sentences," he said.
Paul McMurray, Defaveri's defence lawyer, asked for a provincial jail sentence of less than two years.
McMurray said there's no evidence pointing to Defaveri's specific role in the assault, adding he has no history of violence.
"He's not somebody who's prone to violent outbursts," said McMurray. "He's not a risk to the general public."
Merrick is expected to hand down his sentence next month.
