Jailed for 'vigilante justice'

A man was beaten with a baton, bear sprayed, doused in gasoline and threatened to be burned alive during an incident at the base of Kelowna Mountain last March. During a sentencing submission Thursday, a judge told one of the accused in the assault that it was “probably the stupidest thing you've ever done in your life.”

Nathan Nygren, 42, and Elrond Smith, 53, appeared in Kelowna for sentencing Thursday, for the incident that occurred on the Gillard Creek Forest Service Road near Kelowna Mountain on the morning of March 1, 2024.

Police said very little about the incident at the time, only confirming that the initial incident near Kelowna Mountain and a subsequent police presence on Gibson Road in Rutland were connected, and the Southeast District Emergency Response Team was called in to assist.

During sentencing submissions Thursday, Crown prosecutor Murray Kaay said an altercation started after Nygren went to retrieve his RV from an area off Gillard Forest Service Road, and found another man living in it.

After splitting with his business partner several years earlier and selling his home in 2022, Nygren had come upon hard times and had begun using drugs, his lawyer Gavin Jones told the court. He had parked his RV at a site off the forest service road several months earlier, but a number of his things at the site had been stolen, including a side-by-side off road vehicle.

When Nygren, Smith, their co-accused Ryan Chamberlain and a woman went to the area on the morning of March 1, they found a man, who Nygren had known previously, had broken into the RV and moved it to a nearby location, near the base of the failed Kelowna Mountain development.

The group of men confronted the man when they arrived. Nygren struck him with a baton, Chamberlain sprayed him with bear spray and Smith poured gasoline on him. They threatened to light him on fire.

At one point, the man was able to flee from the group and call police. Officers arrived at the site and arrested Smith and the woman as they were driving down the forest service road. A few hours later, police attended the Gibson Road residence where they arrested Nygren and Chamberlain.

Nygren remained in custody until July while Smith was only recently released.

An 'over-the-top response'

Sentencing judge Clarke Burnett said he actually lives near the Kelowna Mountain area and was very familiar with an encampment that had developed at the base of the “seriously flawed development.”

Jones told Judge Burnett that his client had initially thought the man who was assaulted was “looking after things,” until Nygren learned the man had broken into the RV, tampered with the ignition and moved it onto the Kelowna Mountain property.

Kaay described the assault as an “over-the-top response” to retrieve Nygren's RV.

Both Nygren and Smith pleaded guilty to simple assault and uttering threats Thursday, and Judge Burnett agreed to the Crown and defence's joint submission of six months jail for both men.

But with time already served in jail prior to sentencing, both men will now be left with two years of probation. Smith will remain at a residential treatment facility on Vancouver Island for at least the next four months.

Condemning vigilante justice

Judge Burnett said the jail sentences for the two men should send a message to others who want to take justice into their own hands.

"Individuals need to understand that if they feel they've been aggrieved by other individuals, there is a proper course of conduct and an improper course of conduct," Judge Burnett said.

"Taking matters into your own hands to recover your own property through the use of violence or teaching someone a lesson through the use of violence or administering some vigilante justice; all of that has to be condemned, and resoundingly so."

At 42 years old, Nygren had no prior criminal record, while Smith had what Kaay described as an “unenviable” record. Despite Smith's long list of prior convictions, he hadn't been convicted of anything since 2012. Judge Burnett noted the four and a half months Nygren spent in jail is a "hefty hit" for someone with no prior criminal record.

“Mr. Smith, you had a long, long break there, you got to get back on track,” Judge Burnett said following sentencing.

“Mr. Nygren, this is probably the stupidest thing you've ever done in your life. Given your age, sir, I certainly hope I never see you again.”

Chamberlain, meanwhile, is scheduled to plead guilty in the matter on Friday, according to online court records.