Man sentenced for violent attack, attempted confinement in Lantzville

The incident happened on March 24, 2022 on Dickinson Rd. near Schook Rd., just north of Nanaimo city limits, where the victim was walking home alone from work.

Facts read out by the Crown’s Basil McCormick stated the offender stopped the grey Mitsubishi Outlander SUV he was driving to ask the victim for directions.

While she was new to the area and couldn’t answer his question, she began looking up the street he was looking for.

Armed with a rubber mallet as she was focused on her phone screen, Boscariol stepped out of the vehicle and within seconds started hitting her on the back of the head, shoulder and forearm with the weapon.

Boscariol grabbed the strap of her backpack in an effort to get her in his vehicle.

“If you don’t get in this car right now I’m going to stab you,” Boscariol threatened.

She courageously fought back, kicking him on the chin while falling to the ground and managing to escape to a nearby Dickinson Rd. home.

Boscariol stole her backpack containing several personal items and drove away.

The Dickinson Rd. homeowner called 911, who reported the victim was bleeding from the head.

The victim noted a badly damaged front bumper and Alberta license plates on the suspect vehicle, crucial details in allowing police to quickly zero in on Boscariol.

The victim was taken to NRGH where she was treated for her injuries and made a second statement to Nanaimo RCMP.

RCMP forensic specialists arrived on the secured scene the night of the attack to study tire impression marks left by the suspect vehicle.

Nanaimo RCMP on scene the day after a young woman was violently attacked by Bradley Boscariol. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

A sharp-eyed Good Samaritan later informed Nanaimo Mounties she saw who turned out to be Boscariol tossing the victim’s items from his vehicle in the area of Hwy. 19 and Lantzville Rd. in the minutes following the attack.

A faulty bumper and Alberta plates were noted by the tipster, who found the behaviour of the vehicle’s lone occupant bizarre.

The mallet used by Boscariol with his DNA attached was retrieved by police three days later on the side of the road, along with the victim’s belongings.

A police vehicle database search and statements from the victim led RCMP to Boscariol’s south Ladysmith home the day after the attack.

Following several hours of surveillance of the property, Boscariol left home in the suspect vehicle and was promptly stopped by police.

He was extremely agitated and aggressive during his arrest, with police reporting Boscariol showed strong signs of impairment with blurred speech.

A crack pipe was found in the vehicle.

While under arrest, Boscariol repeatedly slammed his face into the police cruiser window, resulting in significant swelling.

At the Nanaimo RCMP detachment, the offender again continued smashing his head on the cell walls.

He was checked over at Nanaimo hospital’s psychiatric ward later the same evening and returned to police cells.

The suspect vehicle was seized and a search warrant granted the following day, further advancing the police investigation.

The victim identified Boscariol as her attacker, who admitted his role in the incident to police five days after the attack.

He told police he didn’t take his medication the day he assaulted the woman and he either used crystal meth or crack cocaine prior to the offence.

Boscariol told police he wanted to steal somebody’s purse in order to get a bank card as he panicked after losing his wallet.

While the offender said he couldn’t remember what he said to her, he was upfront about hitting her with the rubber mallet.

The Crown’s McCormick credited Nanaimo RCMP’s detailed and thorough investigation.

“The RCMP overturned every rock and stone in order to determine what the full picture was. We received hours of video surveillance, all sorts of things trying to track Mr. Boscariol’s movements,” he told the court.

Chris Churchill, the offender’s lawyer, told court Boscariol relapsed about two to three months prior to the incident.

With a limited and unrelated criminal record, Boscariol had no history of violence, Churchill told the court.

“Everyone in his family was shocked by the events of last year and that Brad, as they call him, could have been responsible for this,” Churchill said.

Boscariol was the victim of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of stepfathers in his childhood while growing up in the Squamish area.

He sustained a serious back injury at 16-years-old, which played a role in his opiods addiction, court was told.

The offender struggled significantly with addiction for nearly a decade prior to the Lantzville attack, which included several tenures in residential treatment facilities.

Churchill’s client did not seek bail and quickly took responsibility for his actions, Churchill told the court.

While he declined to address the court from the prisoner’s box, Boscariol provided a brief written statement to the court through his lawyer, outlining his deep remorse.

“There has not been a day I’ve not felt deep regret for what happened, for what I did. I’m going to work very hard to make sure I don’t fall back into addiction or hurt anybody again…”

Churchill said Boscariol has made positive strides while in custody at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Saanich.

An application is in the process of being made to transfer Boscariol to Nanaimo Correctional Centre to participate in the renowned Guthrie Therapeutic Community.

Significant personal impact

The victim, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of her safety, attended the sentencing hearing with family members.

She provided a powerful written statement to the court, outlining severe pain she was in during the ensuing months of the attack.

Continuous migraine headaches remain an issue, along with considerable mental trauma.

She wrote every aspect of her life has changed, with her world turned upside down following the attack.

“I’ve become numb in every day life and the simplest every day tasks have become daunting as I am suffering from anxiety. I worry for my safety and I’m constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure nothing can go wrong again.”

She quit her job and withdrew from Nanaimo’s VIU campus as a result.

In addition to numerous physical and emotional pain the victim suffered substantial financial losses.

She didn’t work for five months after the attack, while she quit her job this past February since it involved coming and going to work at the same time, which made her question her safety.

“This is something that will never really go away and I will always have the stress and worry in the back of my head that he is out there. My life will never be the same as it was before I was viciously attacked.”

The victim suffered several welts on her head, and numerous bruising and scrapes throughout her body.

In accepting a jointly submitted sentence recommendation, judge Tamara Hodge said Boscariol’s moral culpability was high.

She said the violent attack was against a vulnerable person walking alone in a rural area whose kindness was exploited.

“This was a serious and reprehensible crime that the victim will be dealing with for a long time to come,” judge Hodge said.

Boscariol’s probation conditions include staying away from the victim, a weapons ban, providing a DNA sample and counselling, including psychiatric services.

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by Ian Holmes

Man sentenced for violent attack, attempted confinement in Lantzville

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