There are calls for transparency after charges against a man accused of a violent attack on a senior in Vancouver’s Chinatown were stayed with little public explanation.
There are calls for more transparency from Crown prosecutors after charges against a man accused of a violent attack on a senior in Vancouver’s Chinatown were stayed with little public explanation.
The Oct. 11, 2022 assault was captured on security video.
A 93-year old man was knocked to the ground near Main and Pender Streets.
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Vancouver police said the victim, a neighbourhood resident for three decades, suffered a broken hip.
A suspect was identified and on Feb. 15, 2023, a charge of assault causing bodily harm was sworn against Henry Paul Wiens.
Wiens, 57, was arrested 10 days later following the issuing of a province-wide warrant.
Wiens was scheduled for trial on April 22, 2024, but the BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) said he failed to appear in court on that date, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
The next day, court records indicate the Crown directed a stay of proceedings on the assault charge.
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As a result, the BCPS said, the remaining trial dates were cancelled.
Vancouver Chinatown BIA president Jordan Eng said the public has a right to know what caused the case to collapse.
“It was a violent crime you know, a 93-year-old person being knocked to the ground for no apparent reason,” Eng told Global News Friday. “It’s concerning to all of us … someone has to be held accountable.”
Except in rare cases where the assistant deputy attorney general determines it’s in the public interest to do so, the BCPS said it does not disclose reasons behind the exercise of its prosecutorial discretion, including decisions to direct stays of proceedings.
In this case, the BCPS said, some information was provided to the Crown after the April 22, 2024 warrant was issued for Wiens’ arrest, and it was able to make some “independent enquiries.”
“The decision to stay the charges in this case was made after further information was received by the prosecutor with conduct of the file,” BCPS communications counsel Damienne Darby said in an email.
“After reviewing this information and the rest of the file materials, the prosecutor concluded the charge approval standard was no longer met,” Darby added.
“The community, the family, they have a right to know why the proceedings haven’t gone through,” said Eng.
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Criminal lawyer and former Crown prosecutor Rob Dhanu, K.C., who is not connected to the case, said while prosecutorial discretion safeguards democratic values, the BCPS needs to change its position given information is flowing fast and free in the age of social media.
“The risk that Crown takes when they don’t provide information is that space will be filled with misinformation,” Dhanu told Global News in an interview.
The public, he said, is also expressing disillusionment with the criminal justice system and claiming it’s a revolving door, and politicians are using that for their own ends.
“The fear is that when the Crown doesn’t provide information, they’re adding fuel to the fire whereas if they provided some information and explanation, then reasonable members of the public are going to accept that,” Dhanu said Friday.
“Prosecutorial discretion doesn’t mean you have to do everything in secret. Rather, the prosecution service should be providing enough information so the public understands how the system works.”
Global News has since learned Wiens is alive but at the time the charge against him was stayed, it was believed he was close to dying.
“If an individual or an accused individual is extremely ill or if they’ve died, then, of course, there’s no further basis for prosecution because you’re not going to be able to get that person to court in order to actually prosecute them,” said Dhanu.
“If that person was really ill and they got better somehow, then the Crown has the discretion to prosecute them or lay charges again.”
When asked if it’s possible the Crown could re-lay the original charge in this case, the BCPS said, “under the Criminal Code, the Crown retains jurisdiction to recommence proceedings within one year of a stay being entered”.
In Wiens’ case, that deadline is April 23.
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