Guilty pleas in park attack

Photo: Darren Handschuh

Two men charged with a vicious assault in Polson Park in May have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Dale Mathew Lea and Jason Wayne Andrews were originally charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in relation to a machete attack on two homeless men who were living in the park.

In Vernon provincial court, Monday, both men pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault with a weapon.

They are to be sentenced at a later date.

One of the victims, Michael, who asked his last name not be used, told Castanet shortly after the attack, “They bear maced my brother, and I was hit on the back of the head with a machete before being bear maced as well.”

He said one attacker had “hacked” at his wrist with the machete, but that he couldn't see what was happening due to the bear spray.

“My brother grabbed me and got me out of the back of the park,” Michael said, as they ran down the railway tracks towards Okanagan Spring brewery and then to the Gateway shelter for men.

Michael was rushed to Vernon Jubilee Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on his arm while the wounds on his head and back were stitched.