A man who struck a stranger on the head with a metal pipe in North Vancouver will not face any further jail time.
James Henry Reddemann, 44, was sentenced North Vancouver Provincial Court Wednesday to time already served in jail, plus two years on probation.
Just after midnight on Aug. 31, 2022, Reddemann approached two men sitting at a bus stop on the 700 block of Marine Drive and asked them for the time. Soon after, he came back with a metal pipe and struck one of the men, Terry Carmichael, on the head.
Reddemann took Carmichael’s tool belt and the pizza he was eating and ran off. He was arrested a short time later.
“Mr. Carmichael was taken to hospital. He said that he did not know Mr. Reddemann, that he remembered being struck with an object and landing on the floor and that was it,” Judge Lyndsay Smith noted in her decision.
Reddemann was initially charged with armed robbery but later pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of assault with a weapon.
When it came time for sentencing, the Crown was not able to track Carmichael down and he was not able to give a victim impact statement for the court, but Smith noted the aggravating circumstances of the attack.
“The assault was unprovoked. It was a blow to the head. It caused significant harm to the victim in that an open wound was sustained on his head,” she said.
Reddemann has a long criminal history dating back to 2007, including convictions for robbery, breaking and entering, uttering threats, assaults, and sexual assaults with a weapon. His last conviction was for breaching his probation conditions in October 2014.
When Reddemann’s sentencing began in April, the Crown sought a jail sentence of nine to 12 months, plus a period of probation, but by that time, he’d already spent 183 days in custody. Canadian courts generally credit every day in custody prior to a conviction as 1.5 days when it comes to sentencing, meaning the Crown was not seeking any further time in jail.
A pre-sentence report indicated Reddemann had “little insight” into the offence, Smith said, although in court, he did indicate his remorse and accepted responsibility, she noted.
Mitigating circumstances of the offence were that Reddemann pleaded guilty, that he’d gone a “relatively long time” since his last conviction and that he hadn’t had any run-ins with the law since he was released on bail in the spring.
Reddemann is in the last stages of certification to become a health and safety officer, Smith noted.
Smith agreed to the Crown’s submission that Reddemann face another two years of probation, which will include completing any anger management and addictions counselling programs directed by his probation officer.
“You know your demons come from your addiction. If you can grab on with both hands and deal with that, it looks to me like you’ve got a good life ahead of you,” she said. “So, good luck.”
