The wife of a Walmart security guard who was stabbed by a shoplifter two years ago is dismayed the suspect is now out of jail.
Leanne Szasz Beaven says she was told on Thursday by victim services that the man charged with stabbing her husband while stealing a cart full of TVs has been released. Last month he was acquitted of all charges, including assaulting a police officer during another robbery three days after the stabbing in late 2021.
“Our lives are altered and we still have a long way to go in the healing process, and where’s he?” she says. “He’s just out there, and gets away with it.”
She says her husband Ron had to undergo emergency surgery and now has permanent nerve damage in his arm and constant pain. She witnessed the attack and says they both suffer from PTSD.
“It’s just being re-traumatized, all over again, and it’s shocking,” she says. “There are so many others out there who the justice system has failed them. We’re not the only ones. It’s just wrong.”
She says it’s baffling that despite bodycam footage of the attack and a dozen witnesses, the suspect was not convicted.
At around 11 am on Dec. 7, 2021, the suspect attempted to steal electronics from the Campbell River Walmart. He then left but later returned in disguise, threatening a security guard with a knife when asked to leave again.
The guard disengaged, and the suspect walked away. However, a second guard in his 60s saw him, and the suspect stabbed him several times. According to police, he then loaded TVs into a shopping cart and fled out the fire exit.
Nathan Sprout was arrested later that evening in connection with the stabbing under charges of aggravated assault, robbery and assault with a weapon (sworn on Dec. 8). While in custody, RCMP says five other charges were also sworn against Sprout for two previous files from October, including two counts of break-and-entering businesses in Campbell River. The court then released him on Dec. 10 on an undertaking with protective conditions.
Sprout was found breaching the court-ordered conditions and was arrested the following day, Dec. 11. RCMP say he resisted and attempted to assault a police officer during the arrest.
