Victim was ‘defenceless'
A former construction worker at British Columbia’s Site C hydroelectric project has been sentenced to three years in jail for a 2024 stabbing at a work camp lunchroom that left a co‑worker mostly paralysed.
Stephen Barnes, 36, was sentenced Wednesday in provincial court in Fort St. John, B.C., after pleading guilty to aggravated assault in connection with the incident on Aug. 24, 2024, according to a CBC report. The attack took place at the Site C dam work camp near Fort St. John.
The stabbing was “a senseless, unprovoked, dangerous and callous act,” said Associate Chief Judge Paul Dohm during the sentencing hearing, according to the report.
Argument escalates in camp lunchroom
The court heard that a group of workers had been arguing during a coffee break in the camp lunchroom when a foreman stepped in to intervene.
A second dispute then broke out between Barnes and another worker, Leo O’Brien. After that exchange, Barnes picked up a steak knife and stabbed O’Brien once in the back before leaving the room, CBC said.
RCMP later arrested Barnes at the camp without incident. O’Brien was transported to hospital in Edmonton, where surgeons removed the knife from his body, according to the report.
Victim was ‘defenceless’
In his reasons, Dohm highlighted O’Brien’s vulnerability at the time of the attack. O’Brien was “defenceless, without arm, without any weapon on him, and had his back to the accused,” the judge said.
Dohm told the court that O’Brien has been left mostly paralysed from the waist down and may lose one of his legs. His life has been “forever changed,” the judge said, according to the report.
“This is a life altering and serious offence,” he added. “It’s such a very sad and tragic case that such a simple dispute could end up with such harm to an individual who is otherwise in good health,” CBC reported.
Barnes, originally from Calgary, worked as a scaffolder at the dam site. He has been in custody since his arrest. No victim impact statement was filed with the court, and Barnes chose not to address the judge when given an opportunity to speak, according to CBC.
Dohm noted that Barnes had no prior criminal record and that his guilty plea spared the court a “lengthy” three‑week trial that would have required witnesses to fly into Fort St. John from across B.C. and Alberta, according to the report.
Barnes received credit for time already served and has over 200 days remaining on his sentence. He is being held in Kamloops and will be subject to two years of probation after his release. As part of the order, Dohm prohibited him from possessing knives except when they are used for preparing and eating food.
