B.C. Appeal Court rejects lenient sentencing in non-citizen stabbing case

British Columbia’s Court of Appeal has overturned a lenient community-based sentence for a man who stabbed a stranger without provocation.

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British Columbia’s Court of Appeal has overturned a lenient community-based sentence for a man who stabbed a stranger without provocation.

In a decision released Friday, a three-judge panel allowed a Crown appeal and imposed a 42-month prison term on Jae Won Lee, 24, for aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon, less 102 days’ credit for time served.

The ruling stems from a March 16, 2024, incident in Surrey, B.C., where Lee, then 23, confronted a middle-aged man who was smoking outside his housing complex.

According to court documents, the victim questioned Lee about why he was touching a neighbour’s parked motorcycle when Lee produced a six-inch knife and told the victim “to mind his business.”

As the victim was walking away, Lee stabbed him in the arm, chased him into the building and stabbed him again in the abdomen.

The victim required 18 stitches for his arm and 50 staples to close the abdominal wound. Lee then told the victim to “get on your knees and say you’re sorry,” according to court documents.

Lee, a permanent resident born in Australia who moved to Canada at eight years old, pleaded guilty.

A Provincial Court judge sentenced him in April to two years less a day under a conditional sentence order to be served in the community, followed by three years of probation.

The judge cited Lee’s youth, early guilty plea, remorse, rehabilitation efforts, and history of substance abuse, including blackouts from Xanax and alcohol use, which Lee claimed caused him to forget the attack.

The original lower court judge’s decision also weighed “collateral immigration consequences,” specifically, that a prison term of six months or more would deem Lee inadmissible to Canada under federal law, stripping his right to appeal a removal order.

The Crown appealed, arguing the sentence was demonstrably unfit and placed excessive weight on immigration factors, ignoring the offence’s gravity and that Lee had a prior weapon-related conviction.

Writing for the unanimous panel, Justice Peter Grauer agreed, stating collateral consequences “cannot be used to reduce a sentence to the point that it is disproportionate to the gravity of the offence and the moral blameworthiness of the offender.”

Grauer noted the attack’s unprovoked nature, Lee’s pursuit of the victim and lack of significant mitigating factors warranted a “significant penitentiary sentence.”

He also faulted the lower court for not properly assessing community safety risks under a conditional sentence, given Lee’s history of relapsing into substance use and associating with negative peers.

Lee’s background included a youth criminal record for weapon possession and breaches, and an adult conviction two months before the stabbing for wielding a switchblade on a SkyTrain, threatening a friend and a passenger.

The appeal court found the original sentence an “unjustified departure” from proportionality principles, suggesting a proper term at 42 months.

That decision runs counter to several sentences in recent months in which “collateral consequences” related to immigration status appeared to take precedence over general public safety.

The ruling also comes on the heels of Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner announcing a private member’s bill, which would attempt to curtail judges delivering lenient sentences to non-citizens in an attempt to mitigate “collateral consequences” involving a convicted person’s immigration status.