Guilty pleas were entered at provincial court in Sechelt on Jan. 9 and a conditional sentence of 90 days, to be served in the community, was handed to Robin Tak, for vandalizing the Friendship Park washroom mural and trying to break into 22 Taphouse.
Judge Robert Hamilton agreed with a sentencing proposal jointly submitted by Crown counsel Tim McKelvey and defence attorney Sandi Janicki. That included 30 days on the vandalism charge for the Oct. 7, 2023 defacing of the artwork on the washroom with spray paint and 60 days for the May 18, 2024 attempt to unlawfully enter the Taphouse.
The judge also ordered that Tak reimburse the District of Sechelt $10,920, the costs incurred to repair the damaged mural, and a 12-month probation period to follow the sentences.
At the sentencing, McKelvey summarized the offences.
He noted that a citizen contacted the Sunshine Coast RCMP at about 3 p.m. on the day the mural was vandalized, stating that he had seen what had occurred and taken a cellphone photo of the person responsible. Officers went to the park, spoke with the witness and viewed the photograph. Tak was arrested, without incident, in downtown Sechelt just over an hour later. He was charged and released that same day.
At 4:15 a.m. on the morning of the break in, an alarm from the 22 Taphouse location alerted the police to suspicious activity at that site’s back door. While there was no perpetrator on scene by the time officers arrived, there was a security camera video recording of a male wearing a hoodie with distinctive markings and riding a bicycle with a unique colour scheme. That individual first pried on the door, then left on the bicycle.
Later that same morning, the police were called to the Hightide Supportive Housing development with a reported fight having occurred outside that building. Again, reviewing video security footage of the incident, the officers identified Tak, who was residing in the development, as the individual in the footage from the 22 Taphouse.
Conditions attached to Tak’s sentencing and probation included a curfew, an order to undertake counselling as recommended by his conditional sentence officer, no use of alcohol or non-prescribed drugs, and no contact with the witness to the vandalism incident. Tak, 36 is also prohibited from possessing tools that could be used to conduct a break in and instruments including spray paint and permanent markers, which could be used to produce graffiti or deface property.
In discussion of Tak’s repayment to the district, Janicki noted that Tak was employed and may be able to come up with the funds to do so “over the next five years.” Hamilton did not include a timeframe on his order for restitution and also did not levy a victim surcharge.
