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Anatomy of a downtown rampage

Judge says man not criminally responsible after several attacked with field hockey stick in Victoria
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A cab was damaged by a man who attacked several people with a field-hockey stick in downtown Victoria on May 16.

Scott Douglas held a field hockey stick in his two hands like a baseball bat and smashed it into people’s faces as he went on a terrifying rampage through downtown Victoria on the night of May 16.

When police caught up with him, Tasered him and brought him into custody, the 33-year-old was ranting and raving about babies being murdered and animals being abused.

Douglas was charged with three counts of aggravated assault and four counts of assault with a weapon. During an assessment at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam this summer, Douglas told a doctor that voices from the military and extraterrestials were telling him the people he encountered on the street that day were child killers or people who hurt animals.

“His mental health issues were front and centre,” Crown prosecutor Melissa Murray told Victoria provincial court.

Judge Dwight Stewart found Douglas was not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder at the time of the attacks. Douglas will remain at the psychiatric hospital and will have a hearing before the B.C. Review Board within 45 days to decide what happens next.

Douglas’s violent spree began about noon on May 16. His first victim, a 41-year-old man, was walking on Blanshard Street when Douglas struck him on the back of the neck with a tree branch, said Murray, reading an agreed statement of fact into the court record.

The man did not see anyone, but felt pain. Everything went white for a moment. He turned to see Douglas staring at him holding a large tree branch. When he asked Douglas what he was doing, Douglas raised the stick again. The victim stepped back and Douglas walked away. Several witnesses called 911.

The man was not able to return to work that day. He was in shock and received medical attention for a bruise on his neck.

Later, about 9:45 p.m., police received multiple 911 calls about a man travelling through downtown Victoria hitting people and damaging property with a field hockey stick.

A 53-year-old man, walking his dogs, was standing between two parked cars and was about to cross Fisgard Street. He saw Douglas walking toward him and said “Hello.” Douglas stepped in between the two cars.

“Then everything went black,” said Murray. “As he turned to face Douglas, he felt a bang across his face near his eye. He realized he’d been hit in the face with a field hockey stick.”

The victim fought to keep his eyes open and saw Douglas walking away across the street.

Sutures were required to close the large cut over his right eye. The man no longer has feeling on the right side of his forehead and has a permanent scar.

The third victim was locking his bicycle outside Swan’s liquor store when he saw Douglas walking toward him. The 25-year-old said “Hi,” and Douglas raised his field hockey stick and hit him across face. He collapsed on the ground.

The victim told police that Douglas “held the field hockey stick with two hands like a baseball bat.”

The man’s right cheekbone was pushed in. He now has a metal plate permanently inserted in his right cheekbone and continues to have anxiety and depression, Murray said.

The fourth victim, a 30-year-old man who had been at the Irish Times, was walking by himself on Government Street.

“The next thing he knew he was on the ground on his hands and knees,” said Murray. “He doesn’t remember getting hit or anything related to the assault. He lost consciousness and was found by witnesses lying on the ground.”

The man had a concussion, a facial fracture, an orbital bone fracture, a black eye and about three to four stitches on his lower lip.

Douglas’s next victim was a taxi driver waiting outside the Bedford Regency Hotel. He saw Douglas standing by his driver’s side window, swinging the hockey stick and hitting the window. The driver was injured by flying glass from the broken window.

A 34-year-old man, who had gone for a walk on Government Street to buy ice cream, was attacked from behind.

Douglas hit him twice. The first blow split his eyebrow wide open. When he raised his hand in defence, Douglas struck his hand, nose and upper lip.

The sixth victim had a large cut about his eyebrow that required eight stitches to close. He also had a broken nose, a broken finger, a bruise on the upper lip and swelling and bruising to his left eye.

A 67-year-old man saw Douglas walking toward him on Government Street committing “to a full baseball batter’s swing with field hockey stick,” said Murray.

The man ducked and Douglas missed.

He later told police the swing was so powerful that if it had hit him it “would have taken his head off.”

Police saw Douglas with the field hockey stick in the 700-block of Douglas Street.

“He raised the stick and turned toward one of the officers,” said Murray.

Because of the imminent risk, police Tasered him. He dropped to ground and dropped the stick.

ldickson@timescolonist.com