Kelowna man charged with attempted murder of his mom pleads guilty to far lesser charge

A Kelowna man charged with the attempted murder of his mother has pleaded guilty to the much lesser charge of assault and been released from jail after nine months behind bars.

Bradley Andrew Denison was facing charges of attempted murder, assault by choking and uttering threats after he attacked his mom in the middle of the night in November 2024.

However, today, Dec. 2, at the Kelowna courthouse, there was no mention that he’d been charged with trying to kill his mom, or that he’d choked her, as he pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge of assault, along with uttering threats.

The court heard the 39-year-old was living on and off with his mother when, in November 2024, she awoke at about 3:30 a.m. and found Denison in her sewing room.

She headed back to bed but he followed her into her bedroom and grabbed her and threw her to the floor. He was yelling and swearing.

“I’m going to kill you right now. You’re not getting out of here alive,” he said to his mom. 

She managed to knee him and grabbed her purse and phone and fled to a gas station across the street and the police were called. The court heard that she was very scared.

Police went to her home and found a broken china ornament, but no other signs of a struggle. Denison had taken off.

The following day police called him and told him to go to the Kelowna RCMP detachment. Denison turned up, was promptly arrested, and taken into custody.

BC Provincial Court Judge Cathaline Heinrichs said the situation could have become far more serious.

“You could be actually dealing with a situation where your actions went so far as to have caused the death of your mother,” Judge Heinrichs said. “Often, that line between an assault and uttering threats is not that far to get to a point where somebody is actually seriously injured or killed.”

After more than four months in custody, Denison got bail and went to live in supportive housing in Penticton.

In August, he breached his bail conditions by being out past curfew and was put back behind bars. He appeared in court via video from custody.

The court heard how Denison struggled with addictions and mental health issues and had been diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis. He has a previous record of violence and spent a year in jail for assaulting someone with a weapon. On another occasion, he hit a pedestrian in his car, leading to more charges.

However, the court heard he’d spent 12 years without any run-in with the law and owned his own business working with commercial machinery and heavy-duty tires.

Despite what had happened, his mother still supported him.

“She loves her son very much. And she knows that he has had difficulties, but she still loves him and supports him,” the judge said.

His mom submitted a victim impact statement to the court, but on her request, it wasn’t read out.

“Mr. Denison is remorseful for his actions and how they affected his mother, and he acknowledges that the way he acted would have been terrifying for her,” Crown prosecutor Karla Dodds told the court.

In a joint submission, the Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer Laura McPheeters put forward a sentence of time already served behind bars, followed by three years’ probation.

After serving almost nine months in jail, Denison was to be released today. As part of his probation, he’s barred from going near his mother, but he is allowed to contact her.