Christopher Kumar Ram appears in these photos from 2023.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Vancouver Police Department

CONTENT ADVISORY

A BC judge said a homeless schizophrenic man, convicted for openly masturbating at a Penticton bus stop, has been given every type of sentence available.

"He's been a danger to our community for years now," BC Provincial Court Judge Shannon Keyes told a Penticton courtroom today, June 25. "He's got to take some action that gets him healthy. He needs some help. He needs to go on his medication."

Christopher Kumar Ram appeared at the Penticton courthouse from custody where he's been following his arrest for a string of violent and disturbing acts.

In September last year, Ram had sat next to a woman at a bus stop and started masturbating.

Two days later, the same woman saw Ram while at Shoppers Drug Mart, police were called and he was arrested.

It's not clear how long Ram was in custody, but a month or so later he breached his release order by failing to go to a counselling session.

The court heard the 39-year-old had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and anti-social personality disorder, but refused to see a psychiatrist and had stopped taking his medication. He's also an illicit drug user.

Ram had been connected to outreach workers, but both women had had to get restraining orders against him.

In one instance Ram had called the outreach worker and said her life was in danger. He'd followed another outreach worker around the Penticton courthouse telling her she would, "pay for what she did."

In January, Ram was found erratically yelling and charging at vehicles in Penticton.

When police arrived he told one of the officers, "I'm going to chainsaw your head off" and that he would follow them home and kill them.

He made nonsensical statements to the police officers and smashed his head against the bars in the back of the police cruiser.

He assaulted one officer and told him to take his protective gear off so they could have a fistfight. Ram said he'd kill him with one punch.

He's been in custody since then.

Defence lawyer Keesha Chase said there was little known about the 39-year-old's life.

His parents were both deceased and he was estranged from his sibling. He'd been abused as a child and started taking drugs at age 12. He had worked very little as an adult.

In 2008, he'd been convicted of importing and trafficking drugs in Montreal and received a nine-year jail sentence.

He seemed to have done OK after being released from prison, but in 2018 began offending again.

Ram made headlines in the Lower Mainland a few years ago after a string of bizarre incidents where he exposed himself to people and masturbated on the Skytrain.

The court heard he had four convictions for committing indecent acts in public places and three convictions for assaulting police officers.

Since being in pretrial custody Ram was back on his medication.

While the court had heard about an individual with significant psychiatric disorders whose bizarre behaviour was violent and frightening, Ram addressed the court calmly and coherently.

"You look good, and you sound good," Judge Keyes told him. "Previously, you looked rough."

"I can say that I feel a lot more stable," Ram said. "At this stage of my life, I'm pretty eager to get things right."

Ram said he wanted to utilize as many resources in jail as possible.

"I'm in the right mindset, the right mind frame. Medication, of course, is a big part of that," he said. "I'm in a really eager state right now to get things going."

Ram said he'd like to get a job and a roof over his head when he's released, "the basic necessities."

Having been in jail for five months, the defence wanted Ram to receive a sentence of time served, while Crown prosecutor Ann Lerchs wanted Ram to service another four months.

Judge Keyes wasn't swayed by the sentence of time served.

"That must have been absolutely terrifying for this woman just sitting at the bus stop and then seeing him again two days later," she said.

Ultimately, the judge sentenced Ram to four months jail, followed by two years of probation, with strict conditions to attend a psychiatric intake assessment or treatment program.

Ram has been placed under similar conditions before. 

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