Daniel Kipp, 38, recently avoided jail and instead will serve house arrest in a staffed supportive housing environment after pleading guilty to weapons offences. (Image Credit: File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

complete turnaround

Nanaimo prolific offender with strong rehabilitative push earns house arrest

Jan 26, 2026 | 5:31 AM

NANAIMO  — Significant post-offence strides by a Nanaimo man to turn his life around didn’t go unnoticed by a BC Supreme Court justice.

Daniel Nicholas Kipp, 38, was handed two-years’ house arrest, followed by three-years’ probation after pleading guilty to three weapons offences for a May 22, 2023 incident in Nanaimo’s Harewood neighbourhood.

Kipp pleaded guilty to the offences and was sentenced late last year, with the reasons for the judge’s decisions recently published online.

An alert Georgia Ave. neighbour phoned Nanaimo RCMP after hearing a commotion in a back alleyway in which Kipp and fellow prolific offender Colin Crisp were towing a boat trailer away.

Nanaimo RCMP responded to the scene behind University Village shopping centre within minutes and arrested both men.

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Kipp’s backpack contained two restricted firearms with ammunition present and accessible.

The court judgment noted Kipp at no point attempted to use the weapons or threaten anyone. Kipp stated he intended to sell the guns to feed his severe opioid addiction.

Illicit drugs were also found on Kipp by the arresting officer.

At the time, Kipp was under numerous prior court orders banning him from possessing firearms.

Kipp’s lengthy criminal record includes convictions for drug trafficking, weapons offences, assault and aggravated assault.

Most notably, Kipp served an 11-year prison sentence for attempted murder and aggravated assault convictions in 2007 for shooting someone while running from a Surrey crack house.

Kipp, originally from the Lytton area, is Indigenous, who suffered an unstable, chaotic, trauma-filled childhood while living in several unstable living environments with various forms of abuse and neglect.

Detailed pre-sentence and Gladue reports were prepared to assist with sentencing.

“Mr. Kipp believes that he first used alcohol himself as a toddler when he was left unattended at parties. Both Mr. Kipp and his younger sister, Caprisha, were neglected. As a toddler, Mr. Kipp was often left to care for his sister. Mr. Kipp recalls an occasion when he caused a house fire while he was trying to start a fire in the fireplace to keep him and his sister warm,” justice Lisa Hamilton outlined in court.

Kipp had watched his mother smoke crack cocaine, the judgement noted, which also stated his foster father beat him.

Kipp experienced racism in middle school, dropped out in grade 10 and fell into a pattern of drug addiction and crime to feed his addiction.

He was disconnected from proper familial, community or professional support, while his PTSD and ADHD went undiagnosed, justice Hamilton noted.

Since the Georgia Ave. boat trailer theft attempt and Kipp’s arrest, he served nearly a year behind bars at Vancouver Island Correctional Centre in Saanich.

He was released on bail on house arrest with strict conditions in mid-April 2024 to attend New Roads Therapeutic Recovery Centre (TRC) in Victoria.

Justice Hamilton noted Kipp has flourished since the offence, taking every course offered to him in custody and at TRC.

“He has accepted all available counselling, including regularly seeing a psychiatrist for PTSD from childhood trauma, ADHD for which he is now successfully medicated, and his substance use disorders which are now in remission,” justice Hamilton said.

Kipp’s bail supervisor, psychiatrist, and a TRC social worker all detailed the strong rehabilitative steps he has made in letters produced for the court.

“The man before me is one hundred per cent committed to his sobriety and his goal of reintegration into the community as a stable, responsible individual. He is deeply dedicated to re‑establishing his relationship with his seven‑year‑old (son) who is in the care of the maternal grandmother,” the judge stated.

Crown counsel requested a five-and-a-half year prison sentence.

The defence’s position submitted by attorney Schuyler Roy was accepted by the judge: two years’ non-custodial sentence, followed by three years’ probation.

Kipp was ordered to serve the entire house arrest and probationary period in recovery house settings, with carve-outs made to attend trades training courses, counselling and medical appointments.

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