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A Kelowna judge called an assault on a homeless man outside a Kelowna bar "vicious" and "cowardly" as he handed down jail sentences for two of four men involved in the beating.

The four young men left the Liquid Zoo after a night of drinking and beat a 26-year-old homeless man in a downtown alley in March 2020, according to a recently published BC Supreme Court decision.

Devin Andrew Wesley Comerford and Zackary Alan Gaubert were sentenced, March 24, to 16 months in prison, followed by 18 months of probation for aggravated assault.

"To say that the assault... was vicious would be a gross understatement," Justice Gary Weatherill said in his decision. "From my observations of the video, it was an unprovoked, violent, merciless and cowardly attack by three men with a fourth standing by."

The four men spent several hours at the nightclub before they left just after 2 a.m. that night, where they met a 16-year-old girl nearby who asked for a cigarette, according to court documents.

She chatted with them as they smoked, which is when the victim approached the group.

One of the men offered her $5 and a pair of sunglasses he claimed were worth $120 for "at least a blowjob or something," according to the decision.

The victim confronted them and accused them of trying to pay an underage girl for sex and one of the men, Andrew Comerford, took offence and they began to argue.

The homeless man took out a knife and that's when three of the four men beat him.

Weatherill's decision said Comerford, 22, and Gaubert, 23, felt ashamed for what they did, but he was not prepared to give them a conditional sentence out of custody, which defence was seeking.

"What you did... was violent, vicious, excessive, unprovoked and cowardly. He was a vulnerable person, apparently homeless, and now suffers significant consequences from the assault, which is going to negatively impact and affect his life," Weatherill said. "Everyone seems to agree that intoxication is an explanation for what happened, but not an excuse."

The decision does not mention whether the other two men were convicted in relation to the March 2020 beating.

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