A former Penticton man who attacked his neighbour with a hammer over paranoid hacking suspicions will not see time behind bars.
Cabbien Dale Rosette, 28, appeared in Penticton Provincial Court via video from his new home in Prince George, facing sentencing for a violent 2022 incident.
Court heard that in May of that year, Rosette was living in Penticton and had developed a friendship with another man who lived across the hall from him.
But Rosette, who had struggled with substance abuse since a young age and has since been diagnosed with a schizophrenic disorder, started to become paranoid that his friend was hacking his electronics and surveilling him in some fashion.
His car alarm kept going off, the court heard, and Rosette became convinced it was his friend.
"I am satisfied that this belief was in fact delusional,” Judge Shannon Keyes said.
“He basically put together one and one and came up with 11 instead of two.”
Rosette decided that the only thing to do was to attack his friend, the victim.
He smashed a hammer into the door of the victim's apartment and when the door opened, continued the attack, reportedly swinging for the victim's head but instead hitting his shoulder, resulting in a major injury.
“It’s fairly obvious from the wound it was caused by the claw end of the hammer penetrating [the victim’s] flesh … very nasty,” Keyes said.
“If it had ended up in [the victim’s] head we might be dealing with an entirely different outcome here.”
Rosette explained in court that he thought he was doing the right thing at the time.
Court heard that the struggle between the pair continued throughout the apartment. The victim was able to take the hammer away, and they scuffled before the victim was able to get Rosette back out the door of the apartment.
“[The victim] gave [Rosette] his hammer back and pushed him out into the hallway,” Keyes said.
When the victim spoke in court, he used his time to read out loud the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling. Later in the hearing, he told the judge that he didn't want “anything more to do “ with Rosette.
Rosette also spoke, expressing his remorse and that he has been sober for a year, working a recovery program and finding support through a church community.
"It is a serious offence and I do need to take responsibility for it,” Rosette said.
Judge Keyes, after reviewing the facts including pre-sentence and psychological reports, determined a 90-day conditional sentence was appropriate.
"It’s clear to me that Mr. Rosette, as sorry as he is for his behaviour, he continues to believe [his friend was hacking him],” Keyes said.
“The consequences of these delusional beliefs were serious and could have been much more so.”
While she was happy to hear that Rosette has been sober, she was concerned that should he relapse, the risk of another violent incident would rise substantially.
He will serve the 90-day sentence at home. Keyes cautioned Rosette that his acceptance of the crime and commitment to rehabilitation and mental health help was all that kept her from a harsher sentence.
"But for those things, an offence of this nature, I would have imposed a longer sentence and it would have been in a correctional centre,” Keyes said.
“But I am satisfied you have demonstrated over the past two years that you have taken a new path.”
Rosette will need to follow conditions, including reporting to the court and a sentence supervisor, travel restrictions, no contact order with his victim, house arrest hours outside of work and essential trips, among other standard conditions, will apply.
He will also need to report to any directed psychiatric appointments and take all medication prescribed.
It will be followed by a 12-month period of probation, with the same conditions minus the house arrest conditions.
Rosette briefly balked during the long list of conditions, speaking up when the judge described a mandatory DNA sample order.
"With all this aside what if I just wanted to do jail time?” Rosette said.
“Cause I don’t really think all of this is going to work out.”
The judge confirmed her ruling and added that regardless of time behind bars or a conditional order, the DNA would be taken, as is the law for a serious offender.
She concluded the hearing by wishing Rosette luck.
“I hope that you do well and keep on the straight and narrow.”
