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No jail time for brutal beating near Penticton resort

Jeremy Jason Webster will spend the next nine months under 24-hour house arrest
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Penticton’s Law Courts. (Monique Tamminga - Western News)

A Penticton resident who beat a man repeatedly outside the Penticton Lakeside Resort will not spend time in a jail cell.

Jason Jeremy Webster appeared in Penticton Provincial Court to hear his fate for a brutal beating of a man in 2021.

In December of 2023, Judge Clarke Burnett found that there was no credibility to Webster’s claims of self-defence in the beating, and that whatever words may have spurred the confrontation there was no justification for his actions.

Burnett noted that even after sending his victim to the ground Webster continued to attack him, including multiple kicks to the head.

Crown sought to have Webster serve a nine-months jail sentence to meet the needs of denouncing Webster’s actions and deterring both him and others. The jail sentence would then have been followed by a year’s probation.

Defence sought to have Webster receive the nine-month sentence, but have it served in the community.

Webster himself addressed the court and apologized for his actions.

“If I could take it back, I would, but there’s not much I can do at this point except throw myself on the mercy of yourself,” he said. “In hindsight, you were correct, it was sticks and stones. That was my mistake.”

READ MORE: Penticton man guilty of brutal beating outside Lakeside Resort

After taking time to review the submissions from both counsels, including five letters of support for Webster, the judge decided that a conditional sentence in the community would be acceptable, but it would be longer than if he had given out a jail sentence.

The first nine months of the 15-month sentence will be served under 24-hour house arrest, with exceptions for employment. The judge made the unusual point of defending the conditional sentence before going into the conditions.

“I will say that many individuals in our community think that a conditional sentence to be served in the community really amounts to not much, if any punishment,” Burnett noted. “I suspect many people’s views of the conditional sentence have changed since the COVID pandemic because individuals were going somewhat squirrelly, for lack of a better phrase, when they had to be stuck at home for weeks.”

The judge added that Websters enjoyment of everything, particularly during the summer, would be unavailable due to being confined to his home.

After the first nine months have finished, the remaining six months of the conditional sentence will be spent under a curfew instead of 24-hour house arrest.

Webster will also be required to complete 40 hours of community service, and then after the sentence will have another 12 months on probation.

At the end of sentencing, Burnett gave Webster one last piece of advice.

“Mr. Webster, don’t do what you did ever again. When somebody says something stupid to you, walk away,” the judge said.

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Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
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