An Okanagan man, who broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home and threatened her with a screwdriver, has been found guilty in a Kelowna courtroom.

According to a Jan. 30 BC Supreme Court decision, the man, only referred to as KJK in the court document, spent the day outside the Peachland home where his ex lives with her mother, demanding to see her.

His ex-girlfriend’s mother refused to let him on the property and told KJK her daughter didn’t want to see him, but KJK wouldn’t budge.

At one point, the mother offered him $20 so he could buy some gas and leave.

However, he remained.

The decision says KJK had been in and on and off again relationship with his ex for five or six years, and the two had a child together. She’d spent some time in a women’s shelter before moving back in with her mother.

While his ex didn’t want to see him, KJK persisted.

At around 10 p.m. that night, armed with a pry bar and a screwdriver, he forced his way into the home.

The mother then heard the daughter screaming for help.

“(The mother) arrived in the family room and testified that KJK was kneeling overtop of (her daughter), holding a screwdriver in his right hand and a crowbar or pry bar in his left,” Justice Julia Lawn said in the decision. “(The daughter) was lying on the floor. KJK’s left hand, which was also holding the crowbar, was on (her) right shoulder, preventing her from moving. From (the mother’s) perspective, it looked as though KJK was going to stab (her daughter) with the screwdriver.”

The mother pulled KJK off her daughter, and he stood up, but tripped and fell down.

At this point, a tenant, who lived in a separate building on the property, heard the commotion and entered the home. He grabbed KJK and got him out of the house.

The police arrived and arrested KJK.

He was later charged with assault and break and enter to commit an indictable offence.

KJK pleaded not guilty and denied that he’d broken into commit an offence.

He testified he’d heard the couple’s daughter, who was three or four at the time, crying ‘help daddy,” and thought she might be in danger.

“It was at this point that he reacted ‘by instinct,’ going to his truck, which was full of tools, retrieving screwdrivers he had there, and proceeding to the side door of the… residence and prying it open,” the decision reads.

KJK testified that he had “reasonable grounds” to think his daughter’s safety was in jeopardy.

However, the Justice didn’t buy a word of it.

“No other witness heard the child calling or crying; two other witnesses… testified that the little girl was quiet and in good spirits in the immediate aftermath of the break‑in,” the Justice said. “There is nothing to indicate why the child might possibly be in danger, safe inside her playpen in her grandmother’s home with her mother, and no other evidence as to the circumstances which might lead KJK. to believe that his daughter was actually in danger.”

KJK also argued he did not assault his ex but was trying to get her phone.

He testified that his ex “came at him” and she was the aggressor in the situation.

Again, the Justice didn’t buy it, questioning why he still had the tools in his hands and hadn’t put them in his pocket.

The Crown argued KJK testimony wasn’t credible and pointed out that on several occasions, he’d said he was under surveillance and being controlled or manipulated by persons not mentioned.

“Having met him before, on my first interaction he presented well. On this night, he was extremely manic. He displayed paranoia thoughts, rambling incoherently and inconsistently. I would say he was… not well,” an RCMP constable testified.

While KJK denied all the charges, the Justice said his evidence contained internal inconsistencies, much of it was “unreliable,” and parts of it “inherently unbelievable.”

Ultimately, Justice Lawn found KJK guilty of both charges.

He will be sentenced at a later date.