Jan 17, 4pm
Neither the two men accused in the alleged Tinseltown gaybashing, nor their lawyers, showed up in Vancouver Community Court on Jan 17 for an arraignment.
Instead, Jessica England, an articling student and agent for the two lawyers representing Michael Anton Hostland and Dustin James Sciog, requested that the matter be postponed to Feb 15.
England did not give presiding Judge Elizabeth Burgess a reason for the postponement, nor did the judge ask her for one even as she agreed to the new appearance date.
This is the third time that the matter has been rescheduled for a hearing.
Hostland and Sciog have yet to enter a plea in the matter.
— Natasha Barsotti
Dec 13, 2010
Two men charged with assault in connection with an alleged gaybashing near Vancouver’s Tinseltown on Oct 8 are due in Vancouver Community Court on Jan 17 for arraignment.
Michael Anton Hostland, 22, of Port Moody has been charged with one count of assault, and Dustin James Sciog, 20, of Fort St John has been charged with three counts of assault.
The charges stem from an alleged attack on Thomas Pope near the corner of Abbott and Pender streets. He says he was repeatedly called a faggot and punched.
Hostland and Sciog appeared in Downtown Community Court on Dec 13.
Hostland was represented by an articling student for lawyer Brian Mickelson while Sciog’s lawyer was not present.
Crown prosecutor Alex Henderson told Judge Thomas Gove he had spoken with both counsel and agreed on the Jan 17 date.
Pope was waiting for two friends outside the McDonald’s at Tinseltown when he alleges one of the men grabbed him by his shirt pocket, ripped the buttons and started punching him in the face, all the while calling him a faggot.
The man then punched one of Pope’s friends in the face, knocking a tooth out after his friend tried to intervene, Pope alleges.
Pope says police arrived quickly on the scene and handcuffed two men but let them go.
Police confirmed that two men were initially taken into custody at the scene but were released “while the case was being investigated.”
Pope said at the time that police were initially dismissive of his claims.
It remains to be seen if the case will be treated as a hate crime by Crown.
“In the event of convictions, police are requesting that Crown counsel assess the evidence that homophobic comments were allegedly made when determining if there is enough to support sentencing recommendations under hate crime provisions,” Vancouver police stated on Nov 2.
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