Man jailed over racial epithets
JUSTICE I Note with swastika, insults taped to Chinese family’s door
BY GERRY BELLETT VANCOUVER SUN
NEW WESTMINSTER I A 19-yearold New Westminster man has been sentenced to 32 days in jail for harassing a Chinese family by cutting flowers on their property and leaving notes containing racial slurs and swastikas on their door.
Tyler Bruce Lankin pleaded guilty to criminal harassment in provincial court in relation to three incidents that occurred on June 21 and June 28 last year.
At about 6:30 a.m. on June 21 a member of a Chinese family living in the 600-block of Colbourne Street noticed a group of people around her home.
She saw one man — later identified as Lankin — cutting flowers from a hanging basket on the porch accompanied by a second male. A female was standing on the sidewalk watching them.
The family member opened the door after they left and found a paper taped to the front door carrying racial epithets and a swastika drawing.
At 11 a.m. Lankin returned and threw dirty clothes on to the front porch.
The police were called and on June 28 Lankin was back at the residence cutting flowers at the front with a knife.
He was arrested June 30.
When he was interviewed by police officers Lankin told them that he didn’t think it was fair that companies were hiring cheap immigrant labour. His statements were entered as evidence.
“We gotta be equal — not with whites lower than everyone else,” he told officers.
At the time Lankin was living with his grandmother, who is a neighbour of the Chinese family.
Although his fingerprint was on a note, one of which read “Goocks Chincks Not Welcom,” he denied writing them or drawing the swastika, but said he understood the symbol could represent racism.
He told Judge Marion Buller Bennett that he was sorry for how the offence had affected the family and said he was planning to apologize but was arrested.
The judge was told that Lankin had a troubled childhood and had been using alcohol since the age of seven, when he began drinking with his father.
He has learning problems, has only completed some Grade 9 and 10 courses and has limited writing skills. Until his arrest he used alcohol and a variety of drugs daily.
Lankin was prone to fits of anger but had no criminal record. He was held in jail for 14 days awaiting trial.
The Crown asked for a prison sentence between 30 to 60 days while the defence asked for a suspended sentence in light of his age and background.
But Buller Bennett said Lankin’s actions were “contrary to the basic social values of this country” and slapped him with a 60-day sentence — less time served — which computed to 32 days in jail. |
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