No jail time for man who assaulted Abbotsford nurse

The man who viciously attacked a nurse at Abbotsford Regional Hospital in March of last year will not go to jail.

Ryan Michael Stard, 25, has been given a conditional discharge, which means if he keeps the peace for three years he will not have a criminal record.

He pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm in April.

The attack left the victim — who can't be named because of a publication ban — with a concussion, two deep cuts that required several stitches, a torn retina and bleeding in his eye socket.

The victim sat in the back of the courtroom surrounded by dozens of nurses who were there to support him, as Stard apologized.

"I feel really bad for what I did," Stard told the court on Tuesday morning.  "If I could take it back, I would. I wasn't in my right mind. I feel horrible."

Defence lawyer James Boxall described the incident as a one-off triggered by Stard's bad breakup with his girlfriend.

Boxall said Stard didn't eat or sleep for several days, and he was self-medicating with marijuana, leaving him so high that he thought he was having a heart attack.

Nurses outraged

The B.C. Nurses Union says violence against nurses is unacceptable and it is lobbying for tougher sentences in cases like this.

"The justice system let the nurses of B.C. down today," said union president Gayle Duteil.

"We struggle every day with violence, not only in the emergency departments but in long-term care, in the community, in every medical surgery floor. It's a problem and it's going to have to stop."

Duteil says the victim suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and hasn't been able to return to work.

"While I have no doubt that the defendant is sorry after the fact, it's after the fact," she said.

"He was facing minimal consequences as a result, so he can apologize, but our nurse is the one who with life-altering changes."