Photo: Cindy White

Police tape blocks off the sidewalk in downtown Westbank where a woman was beaten and stabbed on Dec. 2, 2021.

A Vancouver Island man was handed a 20-month jail sentence Thursday for the unprovoked stabbing of his long-time friend in West Kelowna back in 2021.

Danny Leo Blanchard, 27, appeared in Kelowna court Thursday afternoon to face sentencing for aggravated assault, more than three years after he was arrested in downtown Westbank on the afternoon of Dec. 2, 2021. He pleaded guilty less than a year after the attack, but it's not clear why sentencing took so long.

While the Crown had sought a jail sentence of 18 to 24 months, Blanchard's defence counsel had argued back in November that Blanchard should instead serve a conditional sentence order, which would have seen him a serve a sentence in the community under house arrest conditions.

Ultimately, while Judge Lisa Wyatt concluded that Blanchard would not “endanger the community” if he served his sentence out of jail, a jail sentence is required to deter others from committing similar crimes and properly denounce his actions.

'Switch went off'

While the circumstances of the assault had not previously been made public, Judge Wyatt outlined the incident during sentencing Thursday.

Blanchard and his brother were visiting his friend and her boyfriend at their home on West Kelowna's Main Street on Dec. 2, 2021. The four people had been socializing that afternoon, while drinking and using "street drugs including cocaine."

At some point in the afternoon, Blanchard and his friend were preparing food in the kitchen. Blanchard was struggling with cutting a frozen fish, so his friend handed him a better knife.

The woman later told police that a “switch went off” with Blanchard and his demeanour changed.

He immediately attacked the woman, stabbing her twice in the side, before she ran from the home into the street screaming. She tripped onto the sidewalk and Blanchard jumped on top of her, stabbing her again in the chest.

“[She] attempted several times to fend off the assault by kicking Mr. Blanchard. Mr. Blanchard would grab her legs, drag her along the sidewalk and continue the attack," Judge Wyatt said. “At one point, Mr. Blanchard grabbed and dragged [her] by the hair as she attempted to flee.”

Photo: Contributed

Good Samaritan Justin McDonald likely saved the victim's life when he intervened.

Semi-truck driver Justin McDonald saw the assault as he was driving by and he stopped and intervened. He jumped out of his truck with a metal pipe and threatened to hit Blanchard. Additionally, Nathan Rousseau was working at a nearby business and he also ran toward the incident and told Blanchard to stop.

Blanchard fled the area, jumping in his brother's truck and driving off, as McDonald tried to console the injured woman.

Police arrived on the scene shortly after and the woman was transported to the hospital where she received stitches. She was released from the hospital the same day.

Blanchard returned to the home a short time later, and officers found him in the backyard. When officers confronted him, Blanchard tried to flee again, but he was tackled by police and arrested.

“But for the intervention of the truck driver who saw Mr. Blanchard pursuing [her], the outcome of this offence may well have been much different,” Judge Wyatt said.

Left with significant trauma

While the victim appears to have not suffered critical physical injuries in the attack, the trauma she's faced has been long-lasting.

“[She] was severely and significantly impacted by this assault. In the short term she endured medical procedures and pain from the stab wounds and in the long term she suffered from fear and anxiety, inability to work for numerous months and as a result, economic and residential instability,” Judge Wyatt said.

“Mr. Blanchard was her friend and this unprovoked and violent assault has left her with significant trauma to deal with.”

Judge Wyatt noted that when Corrections contacted the victim in April 2024, more than two years after the attack, she began crying and asked when the case would be over.

She was still in counselling for the trauma she suffered two and a half years after the attack, something Judge Wyatt called a “hugely aggravating factor.”

Addressing substance use

Blanchard had been using drugs since he was 12 years old, but he told the court that he's been clean and sober for the past two years and has undergone counselling to address his substance use.

Judge Wyatt noted that a forensic psychiatrist who assessed Blanchard opined that his unprovoked attack was “significantly influenced by the amount of substances he was using, rather than being explained by an underlying mental health disorder.”

Because of this, Judge Wyatt ruled that his “moral blameworthiness” was at the high end.

Blanchard now lives on Vancouver Island with his girlfriend, who was in the court with him Thursday.

Despite Blanchard's remorse for his actions and the documented rehabilitative steps he's taken, Judge Wyatt said a jail sentence was necessary.

“It must not be lost on anyone that Mr. Blanchard stabbed his friend with a knife in the kitchen, chased her out of the house while still carrying the knife, stabbed her again after she fell, and then a Good Samaritan intervened, perhaps to save the victim's life,” Judge Wyatt said.

“The Court finds that incarceration in a correctional facility is necessary to demonstrate to the victim and community that Mr. Blanchard is being held accountable for this offence.”

Blanchard hugged and kissed his girlfriend in the courtroom before he was taken away in handcuffs by a sheriff. Through tears, his girlfriend told him: “You've got this, OK.”