'Hate crime' deserves 7-year sentence: Crown

A 37-year-old construction worker should be sentenced to seven years in prison for sucker punching the patron of a Vancouver gay bar, says a Crown prosecutor.

The attack should also be considered a hate crime because the convicted man, Shawn Woodward, used a homophobic slur during the attack on victim Richard Dowrey, Crown lawyer Jacinta Lawton said during a sentencing hearing Friday.

Woodward's punch knocked Dowrey, 62, onto a concrete floor where he hit his head, causing permanent brain damage, court was told during the trial.

Dowrey can no longer feed or dress himself and has lost long and short term memory, his daughter Caroline said Friday in an impact statement read to the court.

Woodward is college-educated and at one time was a homeless crack addict who got his life back on track five years ago, said his lawyer Joel Whysall, who has asked for a two-year sentence.

Woodward volunteers as a cook and group leader at the Union Gospel Mission which saved him from the street, Whysall said.

He said Woodward does not hate gay people and could not have foreseen the consequences when he overreacted in an effort to prove his manliness in the March 13, 2009, assault.

Woodward pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defence after Dowrey put a hand on his shoulder and offered to buy him a drink at the Fountainhead pub on Davie Street.

In a decision on Aug. 11, Judge Jocelyn Palmer found Woodward guilty of aggravated assault.

His sentence will be handed down Nov. 8.