Dozens of Cowichan Valley residents turned out to an anti-crime rally in Duncan, B.C., on Friday, in the wake of a violent assault on a local shop owner.
“There is no consequence, it just keeps happening, and the revolving door through the justice system — we’ve had enough of it,” said Travis Rankin, founder of Canadian Citizens Against Crime and Public Drug Abuse.
The rally comes about a week after two people were charged with robbery and assault causing bodily harm in the brutal beating of the owner of Hank’s Handimart. The victim’s son said he had chased the suspects after they allegedly stole from the store.
“The thieves that were here stole a bunch of groceries, ran off and then my Dad chased after them and then he got beat up pretty quickly after getting into a scuffle with them,” Jung Woo Kim told Global News in a previous interview.
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The accused, Darnell Sterling Grant and Serenity Hoeft, were released from custody within 12 hours.
“There has been a lot of tipping points, but this one definitely caused a big uproar with people,” said demonstrator Lori Ivey.
Rally attendees called out the justice system which they said was too quick to release suspects on bail, and the provincial and federal governments who they said weren’t doing enough to keep violent offenders behind bars.
“It seems like almost every day something is going on, something is broken, something smashed, someone is hurt,” Rankin said.
The provincial government says it is taking steps to address crime.
Earlier this week, the Health Ministry announced an overhaul of its safe supply program to require drug users to consume prescribed street drug alternatives like hydromorphone in front of a health care worker.
The province also lobbied for recent federal changes to stiffen bail sentences and says it’s not finished.
“It’s really important that chronic, violent repeat offenders are kept off the street and not released the same day,” Minister of State for Community Services Terry Yung said.
“The province is applicated with our Ottawa counterparts to actually strengthen both bail conditions and conditions that we impose on people waiting … for court cases, such as no-go, no-contact, and those areas, to make the community safer while we’re advocating for changes to the federal Criminal Code.”
In the meantime, Grant and Hoeft remain free from custody pending their next court date on March 4.
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