The Nova Scotian man suspected of dropping an Edmonton teen on his head last week in the Dominican Republic was convicted of assault causing bodily harm in his home province a decade back for kicking and punching a man at a party who was fighting someone else at the time.
Kyle Stephen Denny, 34, is the suspect in the attack against Edmonton teen Chase Delorme-Rowan, who is clinging to life in a hospital in the Caribbean country. So far, there is no indication of what prompted the violence, which occurred in the bar of a Punta Cana resort.
Denny appears to have the same birthday, Jan. 4, as Delorme-Rowan, who was on vacation with his family to celebrate his 18th birthday.
Denny, according to court records, has a history of violence.
Ten years ago, he was convicted of assault causing bodily harm to a man named Andrew Harvey at a western-themed party.
“There were plenty of plaid shirts, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and the like. The party was also what is known, colloquially, as a ‘kegger,’ featuring a keg or two of beer,” wrote Nova Scotia provincial court judge Timothy Gabriel. “There were other intoxicants on fare as well.”
Denny, the court heard, didn’t know the hosts of the July 2013 party. Harvey was visiting from Newfoundland at the time and also did not know the hosts. But Harvey had gone to the beach the day before with some others at the party.
At the party, there were two fights: one between a man named Jordan Smith and Harvey, and another between Harvey and Denny.
Harvey was left with “a fractured nose, stitches in the side of his head, bruising under the left arm by his ribs and stitches to his head and his left eye swollen shut.”
Denny’s defence lawyers argued that the fight was consensual. Harvey argued otherwise.
“He contends that he also lost consciousness after being struck by someone else while wrestling with Mr. Smith. He denies being in a consensual fight with Mr. Denny,” the judge wrote.
Andrew Harvey’s sister, Rebecca Harvey, told the court that “Denny came up from the side as Mr. Harvey had Mr. Smith pinned to the ground, and kicked her brother to the head, knocking him unconscious,” said the 2015 decision.
“She says that after having lapsed into unconsciousness, several more kicks and stomps were administered by Denny to her brother’s head and shoulder areas.”
At trial, Denny contended he was just trying to break up the fight between Harvey and Smith. “He states that as he attempted to separate the two (while Mr. Harvey was on top of Mr. Smith), Harvey took exception and challenged him to a fight. He says that Harvey … was already cut and bleeding in the facial area at this point (from his interaction with Smith) and that he (Denny) did nothing more than was necessary to defend himself.”
The fight between Smith and Andrew Harvey was over a damaged vehicle. Denny told the court he and a friend decided to break up the fight after Smith and Harvey wound up on the ground, with Harvey on top with a “clear advantage.”
Renee Pertus, one of eight Crown witnesses at Denny’s trial, testified she had a difficult time seeing the fight between Smith and Harvey. “All of a sudden, she observed Denny standing and kicking Mr. Harvey between ten to fifteen times in what appeared to her to be the stomach area. The latter appeared to be on the ground, trying to cover his head and protect himself.”
Lee Waterhouse, a close friend of Denny’s at the time who grew up with him, said Denny went to pull Harvey off Smith when “all of a sudden Rebecca Harvey got loud and hit Denny in the head with a beer bottle, which didn’t break. Waterhouse says he grabbed Rebecca Harvey, and then a fight broke out between the accused and Andrew Harvey.”
Waterhouse “testified that it took a lot of force to pry Mr. Denny free from Harvey, since the accused was, ‘pretty drunk.’”
The court heard Denny was helping to manage a tile company at the time of his trial. “He has a high school education and has worked in some other provinces, including a period in Montreal, and also a stint ‘out west,’ where he had his own company for a time.”
Denny told the court he brought eight cans of beer to the party. “Although he was having a good time, he says he felt like he was in control.”
Denny “denied kicking Harvey in the head or at all,” said the judge’s decision. “He also said that he did not kick Harvey in the stomach while the latter was prone on the ground … because ‘that would be a cheap shot.’”
After he was arrested that night, police noted Denny’s “right hand was significantly swollen, compared to his left.”
The judge said he did not believe the evidence from Denny.
“It is impossible to believe that Mr. Denny engaged with Mr. Harvey in a consensual ‘one on one’ fight in the manner that he described,” the judge wrote, noting that if the fight had involved the two of them brawling, Denny would have been covered in blood.
“Both the initial kick administered by Denny, and the subsequent kicks and punches thrown by him after that, were not, in any respect, part of a consensual fight, nor did Harvey expressly or impliedly consent to same. Denny’s strikes were gratuitous and thug-like,” Gabriel wrote.
Denny was convicted of assault causing bodily harm.
Andrew Harvey told the court “he was blind-sided,” by the attack.
“He was knocked unconscious and may have drifted in and out of consciousness for a period of time. During this interval, he may have been able to few feeble gestures, but for the most part he was unconscious and remained on the ground in a pool of blood while Mr. Denny continued to kick him and punch him in the area of the neck and head and also the armpits and the stomach.”
Denny did damage to Harvey’s “head and in the armpit area of his ribcage,” the judge said.
“The damage inflicted upon Mr. Harvey … and the length of time that he spent convalescing, were well beyond the threshold necessary to constitute bodily harm.”
On Nov. 10, 2015, the judge handed Denny a suspended sentence and 36 months of probation, a victim surcharge of $200, a 10-year firearms prohibition and an order to complete 60 hours of community service.
Denny also got a conditional discharge on Aug. 27, 2010, for failing to comply with court-ordered conditions. That got him another six months of probation, 10 more hours of community service and a $50 victim surcharge.
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