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Surrey hotel room stabber loses appeal of his conviction

An escort claimed she did it, but the trial judge found there was no way the victim ‘confabulated’ who stabbed him
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Surrey provincial court. (File photo: Tom Zytaruk)

A man convicted of aggravated assault for stabbing a man in a Surrey hotel room has lost his case before the Court of Appeal for British Columbia.

Malcolm Drydgen’s lawyer argued via videoconference that the Surrey provincial court judge who tried his client assessed witnesses’ credibility in an “uneven manner,” failed to resolve “material inconsistencies” in evidence and misapprehended material evidence in his assessment of credibility.

But Justice Bruce Butler, in his March 29 judgment, found the lower court judge’s conclusions were “reasonably supported by the evidence available to him” and dismissed Drydgen’s appeal.

“I would find no palpable and overriding error sufficient to justify appellate intervention,” Butler decided, and Justices David Harris and Patrice Abrioux agreed.

The court heard Drydgen “emerged” from a closet and stabbed his victim, who was engaged with an escort, several times.

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The name of the Surrey hotel was not revealed by the court. The stabbing happened on June 14, 2018.

Drydgen, age 29 at the time, was arrested in Ontario in January 2019 for the stabbing, which happened at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel, at 15269 104th Ave.

Butler noted that the victim, following an “unsuccessful attempt at sexual intercourse” with Ms. T, tried to take his money back.

Malcolm Drydgen. (Surrey RCMP photo)

Drydgen’s defence lawyer at trial relied on Ms. T’s testimony that it was she who did the stabbing after the victim got aggressive and rough.

She testified she pushed him off of her and pulled out a knife that was hidden under her pillow. She said she told him to get out, he got dressed and went to leave but changed his mind, pushed his way back into the room and she stabbed him, fearing she would be assaulted or raped.

It was this point, she testified, that Drydgen came out of the closet and tossed the victim out of the room.

But the trial judge rejected her story and was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Drydgen did the stabbing, finding there was “no chance” that the victim “confabulated who stabbed him.”



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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