A man has been sentenced to time served and two-years probation for a pair of stranger assaults in 2023.
On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Jeremy Joseph Lariviere in North Vancouver Provincial Court. Previously, Lariviere had entered guilty pleas for one count of mischief, one count of assault, one count of assault with a weapon and one count of breaching a court order by failing to report to a clinic to receive medication.
At the sentencing, Judge Timothy Hinkson detailed a troubled past for the accused. Born in 1982, Lariviere lived without a criminal record until an impaired driving conviction in 2018. Between 2018 and 2021, he had a few other convictions for theft and breaching probation but his record was relatively short, Hinkson told the court.
Then things got worse, he said.
In July 2023, Lariviere was sentenced for a number of offences that happened earlier that year, which included mischief, assault, obstruction and breaching probation.
In January 2023, Lariviere had a delusional belief that he heard a victim of human trafficking inside a parked vehicle in North Vancouver, and proceeded to smash the glass, the court heard. After that incident, he was certified under the Mental Health Act and was released pending trial.
Next, Lariviere was found in a hotel stairwell in Squamish in April 2023, saying that a woman was being raped. He assaulted two staff there, and when RCMP got to the scene, Lariviere bit a police dog, Hinkson said. Lariviere also broke into an apartment building that May.
His sentence for those offences included a condition to report to an outpatient clinic to receive medication, which he failed to do. After being arrested and released, he still refused to report to a clinic, stating that he wasn’t schizophrenic and was refusing medication because it “contained tracking devices,” the court heard.
Man attacks strangers while experiencing delusions, court hears
Moving on to the current matters at trial, Hinkson said that in the early afternoon of Nov. 9, 2023, Lariviere was in the back alley of an apartment building in North Van, swearing, smashing windows and yelling for someone to “come out, come out.”
A resident, and complainant in the court file, went out to speak with Lariviere after noticing that his child’s bedroom window was smashed.
The apartment resident told Lariviere the person he was looking for wasn’t there, but Lariviere followed him to his door and demanded for it to be opened.
After refusing, Lariviere punched the man in his chin and entered the building. After continuing to yell, he eventually gave up and left, but returned later. Police arrested Lariviere and found him to be carrying a knife and other items he was prohibited from possessing. He was then released.
Nearly two weeks later, Lariviere went to a different North Van apartment building. He pressed multiple buzzers to try and get in, the court heard. Another resident went out, also a complainant, to speak with Lariviere.
Lariviere told the man there is a woman in the building who stole his family’s inheritance, and that the resident was related to her.
The man from the apartment said he was going to call police, and Lariviere punched him twice on the side of his neck, and stabbed him in the arm with a knife, which resulted in 40 stitches and significant nerve damage, Hinkson told the court.
Before moving to B.C. in 2017, Lariviere had a job and housing, but his situation deteriorated after the move. An injury prevents him from working, he doesn’t have stable housing and finds the shelter in North Van unsafe because he believes there are “stalkers” there, Hinkson said.
According to a recent doctor’s report, Lariviere has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and substance use, particularly involving crystal meth.
Anti-psychotic medication had not eliminated his symptoms, the report stated. The doctor said he was concerned about Lariviere’s future risk of violence and he should be reassessed after being released from custody to see if he requires further hospitalization.
More charges in court for assault, arson
In his judgment, Hinkson noted that Lariviere had already served 567 days in pre-trial custody (credited to 851 days), which is longer than his proposed sentence.
The Crown and defence disagreed over how long the accused’s probation should be – either two years or just one.
Hinkson said there is “no doubt” that Lariviere’s mental illness caused or contributed to all of his offences.
“Furthermore, though he caused himself induced intoxication, I find his mental illness and his substance use at this point are inextricably linked together,” he said, adding that Lariviere’s moral culpability is therefore reduced.
Hinkson said the accused’s guilty pleas were also mitigating, and that his Indigenous background was taken into account.
“However, the circumstances are highly aggravated by the harm caused to the victims … as well as the gravity of the offences, the risk of re-offending and the use of violence,” Hinkson said.
For his offences, Hinkson said he would have imposed a 1.5-year sentence, but Lariviere had spent much longer than that in custody already – time left over could be credited to other matters.
Lariviere was ordered to stay away from his victims and where they live, and to continue reporting related to his mental health treatment.
Lariviere has upcoming court dates later this year related to two more stranger assaults and an arson incident last December.
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