Warning: The following story contains details some may consider disturbing.
Two men have been sentenced to six years in prison for their involvement in the death of a Metchosin man beaten with a hammer in 2018.
Lee Hart, 40, and Nathen Monsour, 34, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in March for the death of 41-year-old Shawn Douglas Campbell.
At 3:14 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2018, Hart and Monsour drove to a residence along Carey Road where Campbell was assisting a friend, Neil Albrecht, said Crown Prosecutor Alexandra Pace.
The two men moved quickly down the driveway, armed with hammers. Campbell, who was unarmed, was alone between the closed garage and a car.
In an attack that lasted less than a minute, Campbell was taken to the ground and struck on the back of the head and above his right eye with a hammer, said Pace.
Albrecht moved toward the two men in an attempt to help his friend when Hart swung a hammer several times, hitting Albrecht’s arm and chest.
Hart and Monsour drove off, wiping the hammers and throwing them from the truck, court heard.
Campbell sustained skull fractures, lacerations near his right eye, bruising on his torso, lower back and lower legs. His brain injury was deemed unsustainable for surgery, and he was declared brain dead on Oct. 1, 2018.
Pace said the intention of the attack was to “teach Campbell a lesson” for assaulting his wife, Amanda MacDonald just days prior.
The duo was eventually arrested in March 2020.
Aggravating factors in the sentencing included the use of weapons, planning, distance driven — providing ample time for tempers to cool — and violence to a second victim who had no part in the conflict.
Monsour was sentenced to six years with a lifetime ban on possessing firearms.
Lee Hart was sentenced six years for manslaughter and was also served a three-year sentence for assault with a weapon, as another man was injured during the attack. His two sentences will be carried out concurrently.
Hannah Lepine
