Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kelowna man who was arrested for unlawfully confining a woman is suing the BC government because he was electrocuted while in prison.

According to a Notice of Claim filed at the Kelowna courthouse June 16, Alexander Darmanin launched a case against the BC Minister of the Attorney General and an unnamed prison guard, following an incident he described at the Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver.

The court document said in June 2021 while Darmanin was laying on his bed in a cell, he put his arms behind his head and received an electric shock from a damaged electrical outlet.

Darmanin was taken for a healthcare assessment and then back to the same cell.

The Notice of Claim says the prison officer who originally took Darmanin to the cell noted the electrical outlet was blackened and charred as it had been damaged.

"The placement of (Darmanin) in a cell with a damaged and dangerous electrical outlet near the bed... created a foreseeable risk that (he) would be electrocuted," the court documents read. "The defendants... breached the standard of care in permitting (Darmanin) to be placed in cell 104B despite the damaged and dangerous electrical outlet."

A few days after being electrocuted Darmanin reported numbness and weakness in his right arm and again saw a healthcare practitioner.

"A referral to a neurologist was noted along with a CT scan of the head and neck," the Notice of Claim read.

A month later he went back to see the healthcare practitioner.

"At this time (Darmanin) had not been seen by a specialist for the injury sustained by the incident," the court document said.

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Darmanin is suing for undisclosed damages arguing the Okanagan Correctional Centre failed to make sure he was "reasonably safe in using and attending on the premises."

At the time of the electrocution in June 2021, Darmanin was in jail having been charged with unlawful confinement or imprisonment, uttering threats and four firearms-related charges. He also breached a release order.

Court records show the unlawful confinement charge was classified as intimate partner violence, but the charge was later stayed by Crown prosecutors.

Police put considerable effort into arresting Darmanin and early one Sunday morning closed down streets where he lived in Rutland and put several homes under a "hold and secure" while they searched for him.

They didn't find him at home, but he was arrested him later that afternoon while he was driving.

Darmanin lived in a room above his landlady's garage and she later filed a suit against the Kelowna RCMP alleging police and a SWAT team damaged multiple doors of her home searching for him, even though she offered them a key.

He later pleaded guilty to some of the other charges and spent 15 months in prison before being released in October 2022.

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The lawsuit said the Okanagan Correctional Centre failed to make sure the cell was in "reasonably safe condition" and failed to have a system of inspection to ensure the cell was safe.

The electrocution has caused him injury to his right arm, nerve damage to his right arm, chronic pain and further injuries.

"(The) which injuries have caused and will in the future cause (Darmanin) pain, suffering, loss of amenities, discomfort, loss of enjoyment of life, temporary and/or permanent physical disability, loss of earnings, past and prospective, loss of income earning capacity and loss of opportunity to earn income, loss of housekeeping capacity, and loss of capacity to manage household chores and yard maintenance, both past and prospective," the suit claimed.

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None of the allegations have been proven in court. BC Minister of the Attorney General has not yet filed a notice of defence.

Neither Darmanin's lawyer nor the Ministry were immediately available for comment.

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