UPDATE 5:35 p.m.
Defence lawyer Jordan Watt called the Crown’s wish to sentence Barrett to eight-to-nine years “excessive, harsh, unreasonable and disproportionate.”
Watt says while Holmes’ injuries were severe, she did not sustain any fractures or broken bones.
“There were no life-threatening injuries…There was no full on hypothermia - The doctor explained it was low, but not life-threatening. There was no infection to her hand. (Barrett bit Holmes flesh on the back of her hand, leaving a massive open-wound). There was no permanent damage to her eyes,” he explained.
Watts also says Barrett’s lengthy criminal history is only somewhat violent as he only has three prior violent offences. This is his fourth.
“One offence that was 26 years ago. Another offence that was 11 years ago and a third offence that was three years ago,” he said. “The violent offences or convictions that he has on his record do not make up the majority of his record,” adding that Barrett’s record mostly consists of breaches and mischief.
Watt also mentioned COVID-19 conditions in prison and how inmates are at a greater risk of contracting the virus because social distancing is hard to achieve in such confined spaces.
Watt argued for a much lighter sentence than the Crown's proposal, with his submissions set to conclude Tuesday. A date for the judge's decision has not been set.
UPDATE 1:50 p.m.
Crown counsel is seeking eight-to-nine years for Kevin Barrett’s brutal attack on his mother, arguing he poses a real danger to the public.
After Barrett entered a surprise guilty plea to aggravated assault in relation to the horrific beating of his mother on April 29, 2019, the Crown laid out his troubled life to the courtroom on Tuesday.
“Mr. Barrett was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was a young child. His behaviour began to deteriorate as a teenager when he began drinking alcohol. Mr. Barrett’s mental illness and alcohol abuse have contributed towards his previous criminal behaviour,” explained Crown counsel Patricia O’Neil.
Court heard Barrett’s mother Eleanor Holmes had taken him to the hospital several times over the years due to his aggressive behaviour. He took medication only sporadically to treat his mental illness and was off his meds at the time of the attack.
Because Barrett’s behaviour had alienated other family members, Holmes was his only support.
In the moments leading up to the attack, Barrett’s demeanour drastically changed towards her, something Holmes described as “Satan himself.”
In addition to the extensive injuries Holmes sustained, her white blood cell count was consistent with having experienced a “significant amount of physiological and psychological stress.”
When RCMP officers arrived at Holmes’ residence to arrest Barrett, an officer reports seeing Barrett rolling around on the living room floor. This occurred before Barrett had called the RCMP himself, to report people outside of the residence.
After being arrested, he was confused and claimed he had been at home all day. After being informed his mother was in the hospital and he was the suspect in her attack, he asked the officers if “they had found her on the mountain.”
Holmes’ impact statement was brief, but said she was terrified of Barrett and that she did not want him near her again. Holmes is now living with long-term pain all over her body as a result of Barrett’s attack on her, which ended with him rolling her down an embankment at the side of a gravel road and leaving her for dead.
The Crown noted that when Holmes was asked about how she feels about her son at the preliminary inquiry, she said she loved and forgave Barrett.
“In my respectful submission, that speaks to the depth of her compassion as well as the profoundest of a mother’s attachment to her child,” said O’Neil.
“Given the emotional complexities of that relationship, the court can reconcile the professed love for the accused as well as her professed intense fear of the accused.”
On Tuesday, the Crown said they were seeking eight-to-nine years for Barrett, calling the attack on his mother “cowardly, unprovoked and a surprise attack on a frail and elderly woman.”
“This offence in my submission, violates the basic social value that we should love and care for our elderly parents who have loved and cared for us,” says O’Neil, adding it was extraordinarily vicious.
Other factors include Barrett’s lengthy criminal record. This was his fourth conviction for a violent offence, as well as his lack of wanting to recognize his mental illness.
“An offender in my respectful submission whose mental illness leads him to commit violent offences but who fails to recognize his mental illness or what he must do to treat it, that person is a risk to the public,” said O’Neil.
The sentencing hearing continues Tuesday afternoon.
ORIGINAL 11:25 a.m.
A West Kelowna man entered a surprise guilty plea to a lesser charge in the midst of his attempted murder trial.
Kevin Barrett pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to aggravated assault for a brutal beating he inflicted on his mother on April 29, 2019. The surprise plea came just before his mother, 80-year-old Eleanor Holmes, was set to testify.
Barrett had been charged with both attempted murder and aggravated assault.
The plea to aggravated assault put an end to the trial that was scheduled to run through the week, at least. Proceedings have now shifted to sentencing, with an impact-victim statement from Holmes being read to the court.
Holmes said in her victim impact statement she remains terrified of Barrett and believes a court order will not keep him away from her. A psychological report found he suffers from manic or hypomanic episodes.
Barrett has a lengthy criminal record and has been convicted of multiple assaults including one on a UBCO security guard and a random woman. He was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder as a child and has suffered with alcohol abuse. His mother was the only family member left in his life by the time he turned 21.
Court heard he stopped taking his medication prior to the assault, leading to his demeanour to change dramatically.
Previously in the trial, the court heard that a passerby found Holmes badly hurt at the side of Hidden Creek Forest Service Road. The Crown alleges Barrett viciously attacked her and rolled her down an embankment, leaving her for dead.
RCMP officers testified at the trial that they arrested Barrett at Holmes’ home, where he had been living, in a West Kelowna mobile home park.
More to come...