B.C. Man Who Assaulted Mom With Toddler Present Declared Dangerous Offender

PENTICTON, B.C. — A Penticton, B.C., man who admitted to sexually assaulting and confining a woman for 15 hours while her toddler was nearby has been declared a dangerous offender.

 

David Bobbitt, 39, pleaded guilty to seven offences after the July 2011 attack inside his second-hand store.

 

"I find that Mr. Bobbitt is the very definition of a psychopath," B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Rogers said Friday as he delivered his ruling.

 

"If he were released into the community, he would pose a significant risk of causing profound harm to random victims, and … there is no reasonable expectation that the danger that he presents to the community could be reduced through treatment or supervision."

 

Bobbitt, who has a shaved head and full beard, looked down throughout most of the 80-minute sentencing hearing.

 

The victim, who was 22 when he assaulted her, was not in the courtroom, but her father said the family is pleased with the result.

 

"I'm glad it's done after three years of waiting," said the man, who can't be named because of a publication ban to protect his daughter's identity.

 

I'm glad that boy is going away and no other people are going to get hurt."

 

Rogers said dangerous-offender designations, which carry an indeterminate sentence, are reserved as the "only practical method to shield society" from the behaviour of such a criminal.

 

The judge found Bobbitt to be a "careless liar" who took no responsibility for his actions.

 

Court heard the woman was shopping for a bed at Bobbitt's store on July 30, 2011, when he struck her over the head with a rubber mallet and dragged her to a bed at the back, where he tied her up and raped her repeatedly while her toddler son was present.

 

She was discovered 16 hours later by police after family members reported seeing her car in front of the store.

 

Court heard the woman suffered multiple lacerations to her scalp and needed a blood transfusion and several surgeries. The boy was found wearing a T-shirt soaked in his mother's blood.

 

Bobbitt was arrested four days later in an orchard south of Oliver.

 

Another woman told the hearing that in 2007, Bobbitt choked and struck her before sexually assaulting her. No charges were laid as a result of that attack.

 

Bobbitt said nothing to reporters before stepping into a waiting sheriff's vehicle after the judge's ruling. (Penticton Herald)