Kelowna man convicted in 2010 death facing trial for serious assault

Photo: File photo

A Kelowna man who's been previously convicted of killing a man is back in court this week to face trial for allegedly seriously assaulting a man back in August 2021.

George Nicholas Young, 42, is facing trial over the next two weeks for the aggravated assault of Tyler Takeda, an incident the Crown alleges occurred in Kelowna on Aug. 14, 2021. Young was charged the following day.

While the trial began Monday, the details of the allegation are not yet known, as the first three days of trial have dealt with evidentiary issues.

The trial was initially set to be a jury trial, with jury selection taking place last Thursday and Friday. But on Friday, Young instead re-elected to a judge alone trial.

This isn't the first time Young has faced serious charges in Kelowna court.

Young was charged with second-degree murder back in 2010, after he drove over Joel Reimer in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2010 following a fight, dragging him under the vehicle for half a kilometre and killing him, before fleeing the scene.

Young left the province, before police found him riding a bus near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border a week later.

While he was charged with second-degree murder, he took a plea deal with the Crown, pleading guilty to criminal negligence causing death and failing to remain at the scene. He was sentenced to 6.5 years in jail, minus almost four years for time served.

While the agreed statement of facts in the case and the guilty plea to criminal negligence didn't stipulate that Young had purposely run Reimer over, the initial charge of second-degree murder means the Crown believed Reimer had been intentionally killed.

"There is no forgiveness in my heart for that man,” said Reimer's father Terry following Young's sentencing. “He's gonna be out shortly and he could do it to somebody else's family like he did to ours.”

Back in 2011, Young already had 37 convictions on his record. He was most recently convicted last year of breaching probation conditions in Abbotsford in April 2019. He was handed a one-day jail sentence.

Young's aggravated assault trial is scheduled to continue through to Feb. 17.