Former Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki poses for this undated photo submitted by the City.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED / City of Penticton

The former mayor of Penticton has to pay his brother after assaulting him more than three years ago.

He was never criminally charged, but John Vassilaki has been ordered to pay his brother Nicholas Vassilaki $14,000 for pushing him down and grabbing his neck with both hands, according to a recent BC Supreme Court decision.

The dispute started in June 2020 when Nicholas called John from their sister Athena Vassilaki's home, accusing him of stealing jewelry and gold coins from their sick mother, who was staying at Athena's house and needed consistent care.

John took "extreme offence" to the call and tried to call Nicholas again, but he didn't pick up.

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John maintains he didn't steal anything from their mother and the gold coins belonged to them, but there was no mention of where the items are now in the decision.

The court heard John then called Athena. She didn't answer, but John left a voicemail threatening her and Nicholas.

She didn't listen to the voicemail before John arrived at her door just ten minutes later. Athena testified John "barged" into the home to confront Nicholas, pushing her out of the way.

"What are you doing to our sister?" Nicholas said as John advanced toward him, according to the decision.

John pushed Nicholas onto a couch and put his hands around Nicholas' neck. John removed one hand to fend off Athena as she pulled on his shirt to separate them, which eventually worked.

John then turned to his mother, who was laying on the same couch.

“May you not die unless I step on your chest 40 times," he said to her in Greek, according to the decision. He then knocked over a TV tray before leaving the house.

John left and Athena called 911, but she opted not to make a police report. She told the operator it was a family matter and was resolved.

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Their mother died in August 2020, shortly after the incident. More than three years later, the dispute was resolved with a judgment from Justice Briana Hardwick.

Hardwick awarded Nicholas a total of $14,000 in damages, following her previous judgement on a related case with the Vassilakis in June.

Nicholas' assault and battery claims were a countersuit stemming from John's attempts to challenge family members for directorship of a family firm.

Hardwick issued that decision on June 6, in which she said there was such little evidence that she didn't even know what the family companies actually did.

With the two files now closed, legal disputes between John, who was mayor of Penticton at the time of the assault and when he launched the initial dispute to take over the family business, and his family appear to have come to be concluded.

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