Drug-fuelled assault left North Okanagan man naked, beaten, and pepper sprayed

VERNON – A violent assault that left a man naked, beaten and pepper sprayed earned two North Okanagan men time behind bars.

On June 18, 2015, a man was hitchhiking on Highway 97 when a group of people in a blue BMW stopped and told him to get in or he would be shot, Crown counsel Carla Dewar said during a sentence hearing for the two co-accused, Christopher Hubley, 32, and Dale Babiy, 24.

The man got in and was driven a short distance away. A handgun was held to his head the entire time, Dewar said Thursday, Aug. 10 in Vernon Supreme Court.

The victim was eventually taken out of the car and beaten, stripped naked, and pepper sprayed.

“The individuals left him there, telling him if he contacted police he should lie about who he was and not tell them anything,” Dewar said.

He made his way to a boat manufacturing business on Highland Road where he was assisted and given some clothes. He suffered a laceration to his head and was treated in hospital.

While not completely cooperative with police — he initially lied about his identify — the victim eventually told officers where they could find the perpetrators. The attackers were masked, but the victim said he was confident the man driving the BMW was Hubley and was 70 to 80 per cent sure the passenger was Babiy.

Dewar said the assault was connected to the drug trade and stemmed from competition between the men.

“Once you get guns and drugs involved, things never seem to end well. It becomes an extremely dangerous situation,” Dewar said.

The victim of the assault is currently in custody on a separate, unrelated matter involving a robbery, Dewar said.

Babiy and Hubley were arrested following a police investigation and were originally set to stand trial in Vernon Supreme Court on charges of assault with a weapon and kidnapping using a firearm simpliciter. The trial was cancelled when defence lawyers Nick Jacob and Courtney Simmons negotiated a sentence on the low end of the spectrum in exchange for guilty pleas.

The men were sentenced by Justice Patrice Abrioux to the mandatory minimum of four years, but with time already served only have about nine months left.

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