ROCKRIDGE SLASHER HAS BEEN SMOKING POT

ACCORDING to a probation officer's report, the 13-year-old West Vancouver
youth put on two years' probation for slashing a fellow student's throat at
Rockridge secondary last fall has been smoking pot and drinking alcohol
since he was sentenced in December.

The youth, who cannot be identified under the Young Criminal Justice Act,
appeared Monday before North Vancouver provincial court Judge Doug Moss for
a progress review.

On learning the youth has been smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, Moss
said, "If you think you can beat the system, forget it. You're butting your
head against a seriously-hard concrete wall. I want you to think seriously
about what you are doing."

On Dec. 10, 2003, the youth pleaded guilty to aggravated assault after
using his three-inch pocket knife to slash the throat of a 16-year-old
Rockridge student. The attack occurred late on the afternoon of Oct. 21,
2003, at what students' called the smoke pit, across the road from
Rockridge near Caulfeild Village Mall.

The 16-year-old victim received a 15-centimetre (six-inch) cut across his
neck. He required emergency surgery at Lions Gate Hospital. Within five
days, however, he was sufficiently recovered from his near-fatal wound to
be released from hospital.

West Vancouver Police Department investigators recommended a charge of
attempted murder against the youth.

The incident attracted many Lower Mainland print and electronic media
reporters to the North Vancouver provincial courthouse.

North Vancouver Crown prosecutors did not accept the police recommendation
and charged the youth with aggravated assault which includes life
endangerment in the criminal action.

While few details of the youth's failings during the last month were
released in public court Monday,

Moss made a general reference to "a whole pile of concerns" about the
youth's progress.

Noting that a probation officer's report states the youth "had been abusing
marijuana and alcohol" during the last month, Moss told him sternly, "It's
illegal to possess marijuana and yet you're using it. And you're under age
and you're drinking alcohol."

When Moss asked him if he understood that he is strictly prohibited from
using either substance the youth, with his father sitting in the back of
the courtroom, answered, "Yes."

(A court order prohibits the youth from being with his parents unless under
strict supervision.)

Crown lawyer Gillian Parsons said the probation officer's report indicates
that apart from attending all his weekly counselling sessions "the youth
has not done well. We would expect there to be full compliance before he is
rewarded for good behaviour."

Moss, who has been the judge on the case from the day the youth first
appeared in court, called it "a positive sign" that the youth is attending
all his counselling sessions and noted there had even been "some
participation" in the sessions by the youth.

However, Moss told the teenager, "I want you to continue and I want you to
try and get along in the (foster) home."

In December Moss sentenced the youth to two years' probation and ordered
him to participate in a two-year intensive support and supervision program.

Moss also ordered the 13-year-old to be removed from his parents' home -
both of whom have a history of mental illness - and be placed in a foster home.

During the December sentencing hearing, Moss was told the youth had a
"weapons fetish" and had been the victim of extensive bullying for several
months immediately prior to the aggravated assault.

A psychologist's assessment stated that the youth "is at the development
stage of a three-to four-year-old" and characterized the teenager's home
life as "highly toxic."

Between the ages of six and 10 the youth did not attend school, according
to the psychologist, and his parents kept him from the outside world.

In light of the unfavourable report by the probation officer, Moss said
that he had no intention of amending any of the conditions he had imposed
in sentencing and ordered that the youth appear before him again next month
for another review.