British Columbia man guilty of assault on prosecutor in courthouse

Provincial court rules that attacker’s clothing in videos of attacks on two women is identical, convicts Kenyon Lavallee.

The man accused of attacking a British Columbia prosecutor near Vancouver Provincial Court has been found guilty of assault causing bodily harm and assault.

Kenyon Thomas Lavallee stood quietly in a corner of the witness box in one of the courthouse’s main courtrooms as Judge Daniel Loucks read his decision via video on July 22.

The prosecutor, whose name is under a publication ban, testified in May that the Feb. 2 attack happened a block from the courthouse as she walked to work.

She said the attack came out of nowhere and her face was numb.

She was walking with a colleague and a security guard from the courthouse’s protected walking program.

“That part of Downtown Eastside in Vancouver can be unpredictable and unsafe,” Loucks said.

The prosecutor said she saw the man and that he saw her as she walked east on Cordova Street toward the courthouse at 222 Main St.

“He charged at me and punched me in the face with his clenched fist,” she testified.

“I was stunned,” she said. “I put my hand on my face and I was bleeding quite badly. There was blood coming out of my face.”

According to Loucks, the attacker ran away from the first crime scene, where the accuser was lying on the ground.

As he turned onto Columbia Street, the man encountered another woman, according to Loucks.

“He jumped towards her and started screaming inaudibly,” Loucks said. “He also punched her in the head multiple times.”

That victim began screaming and the man was quickly arrested. Loucks said the second victim identified the arrested man as the one who attacked her.

The judge said the defense had admitted that Lavallee was the aggressor in the second incident.

According to Loucks, the statements of the prosecutor, the colleague and the guard differed, but it was the man’s clothing that was decisive for the conviction.

According to Loucks, the clothing seen in the video of the attack on the prosecutor was the same as that seen in the video of the second attack.

“I am confident that the person in all three videos is Mr. Lavallee,” Loucks said.

The case now moves on to setting a date for the sentencing hearing.