A North Vancouver man who lit a homeless friend on fire after an argument, resulting in severe burns to the victim, has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in North Vancouver provincial court.
Brian Kenneth Pert, 35, was originally charged with attempted murder of Russel Rozel, but pleaded guilty to the less serious charge Dec. 16 following a preliminary hearing.
At the time of the incident, in August 2012, police said Rozel suffered burns to 50 per cent of his body after being set alight with camping fuel.
Crown prosecutor Michelle Peacock said Pert, Rozel and a third man, Michael Smith, all knew each other from hanging out at the North Vancouver bottle depot, where "they had sort of a collective work group."
But on Aug. 4, 2012, Pert and Rozel had some kind of disagreement after the two men had been drinking.
Pert went to a piece of land between the highway and the Holiday Inn where Rozel had been camping out and the two men got into an altercation.
In court, Smith testified that he had arranged to meet Rozel at the camp, known as the "grassy knoll," to share some food and beer, after the pair finished at the bottle depot.
But when Smith arrived on his bicycle, he saw Pert and Rozel facing off on the grass.
"It looked like they were duking it out," he said. "It happened quite fast."
Smith said as he got closer, he noticed Pert was dousing Rozel with some kind of liquid. Right afterwards "I saw a flame go across," he told the judge.
"He just went up so quick. .. poof."
Smith said he ran to Rozel as fast as he could and rolled him on the dry grass, trying to put the fire out, but the grass started to catch fire as well.
People driving by saw what was happening and ran over to help, bringing bags of ice from the nearby hotel.
"We rolled him over and his back was melted," said Smith. "Most of the clothing from the waist up burned."
"He was still wearing his (bicycle) helmet which probably saved his head," he added.
Paramedics and firefighters arrived on the scene and rushed Rozel to Lions Gate Hospital.
Pert had fled by the time police arrived, but he was arrested within 24 hours.
Rozel was called to testify at the preliminary hearing but refused, telling the judge he hated authorities even more than he hated Pert.
"I'm not testifying," he said. "I think Brian is the lesser of two evils."
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 6. In the meantime, Pert remains in custody.
