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A North Vancouver man who threatened a group of teens at a skate park and threw a vial of urine at a nurse’s face at Lions Gate Hospital has been told by a judge he needs to get help for his mental health and addiction issues or he faces a dire future.
Judge Joanne Challenger urged Joel Lysne, 35, to stop using street drugs including methamphetamine, which can cause permanent brain damage.
Challenger made the comments Jan. 12 in North Vancouver provincial court when handing down a sentence of time served for the 64 days Lysne has already served in custody for several offences. The offences include threatening, assault, and committing an indecent act in public.
Court heard how on June 8, 2022, Lysne was speaking to a group of teens at the skate park in Kirkstone Park when he told a teen “shut up before I strangle you right now” then spoke about “how easily he could kill the youth,” according to Crown counsel Samantha Norton. When the teens asked Lysne why he was wearing a skirt, he lifted the skirt and exposed himself to the group of youths, who ran away.
The next day, Lysne went to the police and was taken to Lions Gate Hospital under the Mental Health Act. While being admitted, Lysne was asked for a urine sample. But when the nurse went to retrieve the vial from him, he took the lid off and threw it at her, leaving urine on her face and clothing and in her hair.
A few months later, on Oct. 28, Lysne was again at Kirkstone Park, threatening teens. “I have a machete and I’m going to kill you guys if you disturb me again,” Lysne reportedly told them. Police were called and upon searching Lysne found a 14-inch machete, said Norton.
Lysne was also arrested on two other occasions in May – once when he was seen masturbating on a public trail leading down to Vancouver’s Wreck Beach and again when he threatened a waiter at the restaurant in the Holiday Inn in North Vancouver, telling him if he didn’t get a prime-rib dinner for $35, “I will destroy you. I will destroy everyone in this restaurant.”
Lysne’s lawyer Glen Paruk said Lysne has never been diagnosed with a mental illness but was prepared to attend the forensic psychiatric outpatient clinic for assessment.
The judge told Lysne that was a good idea, adding he needed to get a handle on his meth addiction.
“I know that addiction is not rational. If it was people would be able to quit. But you also have a mental health issue and combining the two of them is not a good thing for you,” said Challenger.
Lysne was placed on 18 months’ probation with conditions not to “loiter” around any public park, skateboarding park or community centre where teens under 18 are present.
He was also ordered to take counselling and treatment for substance use or mental health issues as directed by his probation officer.
