Aden Rutter believes he's on a the path to a more positive future following recent convictions for drug trafficking and crimes of violence. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

public assault

Wild melee ensued after intoxicated Nanaimo man tried to collect $50K drug debt

Feb 8, 2024 | 5:26 AM

NANAIMO — A horrified bystander called police when he saw a man being beaten and choked in his vehicle in Nanaimo last summer.

The offender, Aden Lee Aaron Rutter, 29, was exceedingly drunk when he unleashed the July 12, 2023 attack in what court heard was a significant relapse.

A Wednesday, Feb. 7 sentencing hearing in provincial court in Nanaimo heard Crown counsel’s Hadyn Shook outline the sloppily planned, public beating.

Rutter was heard threatening to kill the other man if he didn’t pay back $50,000, while also using the man’s gold chain to choke him, along with delivering several strikes.

Police quickly responded after the bystander dialed it in.

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The offender hid nearby, but was quickly spotted by police and told he was under arrest.

Instead of complying, Rutter tried to run off.

Shook told court Rutter kicked a pursuing officer, then grabbed another by the neck to pull him to the ground.

“This caused officer Douglas to draw his taser and he warned Mr. Rutter that if he continued resisting and assaulting police that he would be tasered. Mr. Rutter tried to dislodge the taser from Cst. Douglas’ grasp, but was unsuccessful.”

Rutter was then arrested.

He was not jolted by the taser, but did sustain a broken orbital bone during the ordeal.

Rutter spontaneously told police that he was trying to collect a drug debt.

The man attacked by Rutter sustained minor injuries and refused to make a statement to police.

The Crown’s Shook said the original assault, as well as the attack against multiple RCMP officers, required a jail sentence.

“Those are significant aggravating features to this assault and require a level of deterrence.”

A jointly accepted sentence recommendation resulted in a 90 day time served jail sentence, followed by one year probation.

This is Rutter’s first conviction for a violent offence.

He has two prior drug trafficking convictions, with the latest occurring last fall.

Rutter is scheduled to be under the courts supervision for the next year-and-a-half.

His defence attorney, Kathleen Kerr-Donohue, said her client was born and raised in Nanaimo.

She said Rutter was successfully medicated for much of his childhood for ADHD and Tourette Syndrome, but that his unsupportive father ordered him to stop using it as a teenager.

Rutter then turned to illicit drugs, becoming entrenched in the drug culture as a young adult, Kerr-Donohue told court.

She said Rutter has demonstrated a positive attitude and made progress in a Victoria based non-profit treatment facility since late last November.

Rutter addressed judge Tamara Hodge, saying he’s gained insight into his offending and becoming more accountable for his actions.

“I think everything happens for a reason and unfortunately this arrest had to happen for me to get my act together,” Rutter told court. “I was going on a downward spiral very fast I could have died, I am grateful to have been arrested and for this to have happened…”

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ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes