The fall of the Kelowna Hells Angels is going to require a book all on it's own and this chapter on the murder of Dain Philips is in itself a Shakespearean tragedy. I took the day off work today for the sentencing of the two Kelowna Hells Angels that pled guilty to murdering Dain Philips in Kelowna. I caught the sunrise at Stanley Park this morning beforehand and it reminded me of my trip to Kelowna for the Britney Irving trial. I have a lot to say about this one.
Norman Cocks looked like a preppy b*tch dressed is a suit with that gay ass gel in his hair. Robert Thomas on the other hand sported the orange prison jump suit and looked like a fat slob. A tragic statement of agreed facts was read out in court which Kim Bolan cited in yesterday's Vancouver Sun. The court accepted the joint submission asking for a 15 year sentence for manslaughter.
The tragedy is that this started off as a petty high school dispute that the Hells Angles had absolutely no business getting involved in. Norman Cocks was friends with a slimy piece of garbage named Daniel McRae. When you look at the picture of the two brothers Daniel and Matthew McRae, they look like scrawny preppy sleazebags. It's no wonder a petty sleazebag like Norm Cocks was close to them.
The McRae brothers didn't get along with Dain Philips' two sons. It's no wonder why. Dain's sons were wholesome, the McRae's were not. So Daniel sleazebag goes and brings his friend Norm Cocks into the dispute. "Don't screw with me, my friends are Hells Angels." A childish thing for anyone to say even a high school student. Well that's exactly what happened. Daniel brought Norm Cocks to intimidate one of the Philips brothers. Norm who is short but much stockier than Dain's son in High School punched Dain's son in the cheek and told him to tell his brother he was looking for him. Norman pointed to his Hells Angels tattoo and used the gang affiliation scare tactic.
No doubt Dain was upset a grown man in his thirties punched his son in the head over a trivial school yard spat. Dain went out looking for Norman and chased him in his car. Norman ran away from Dain. He was scared of him. Dain could have easily taken Norm one on one. This is where I will add an excerpt from the confession video that was shown in the voir dire. I won't add it now because the rest of the trial is still going on. However, when that trial is over I will boldly declare what Norm said that sunk his ship.
Suffice it to say Norm ran away from Dain and came back with Robert Thomas. He was supposed to meet Dain with the McRaes but didn't show up. He needed reinforcements. In the statement of agreed facts it said that Norman lived with his father and with Robert Thomas. Thomas' lawyer assured the court they were just friends and that it was more of a big brother type relationship. They weren't living common law. Norm called Thomas and asked if he was home. No was the reply. He then swore and said he needed him right now.
So after running away from Dain and after not showing up to meet Dain with the McRaes he finally showed up with Robert Thomas along with his father, baseball bats, hammers and the loser brothers. Thomas gets out of the truck holding up a baseball bat and a hammer and repeats three times to Dain So you want to F with the Hells Angels? Dain raises his hands in submission and Thomas cracks him in the leg with the bat. Dain stood strong. Then Thomas hit him again in the leg then in the head with the baseball bat. As Dain goes down, little rat bag weasel Norm Cocks jumps out of the car and hits Dain in the back of the head with a hammer. That's when all the other sorry misfits jump in and kick him to death. Jumping in to kick a guy when he's down is pathetic.
They say circumstances don't make the man they reveal him to himself. This circumstance has revealed Norm Cocks to be a sleazebag weasel. History has recorded that forever not just 15 years. That mark he will carry with himself for the rest of eternities into the after life.
The court read out a profound victim impact statement from Dain's wife. She said there is no parole for her family. They have been sentenced to life without Dain with no eligibility for parole. She went on to describe what an amazing man he was. He was the father of three children and grandfather to many more. She said she had suffered numerous illnesses in her life and he was always there to nurse her through them.
Obviously with the death of a loved one comes unbearable grief. Yet the shining light in this story is the character of Dain Philips and the life he led. Contrasting that to the pathetic lives of the two Hells Angels who murdered him was shocking. Here we had one great moral giant on one side, and two pathetic losers on the other. That is something they each will have to live with forever. Life does not end at death. Those two losers will carry their pathetic life with them into the eternities. That is justice.
Normally at a funeral it is customary to express one's condolences to the family and express remorse for their loss. Yet I am a bit worried about Dain's sons. Their wall of anger surrounding their tower of hate is concerning. No doubt they have experienced a profound loss. Yet they have to get over this small town rivalry. It reminds me of the Hatfields and the McKoys. How a silly rivalry can continue to fester for generations. I've lived in Belfast and in Jerusalem. I've seen the you kill one of ours and we kill one of yours philosophy. It leaves everyone blind.
I'm not saying they have to forgive the people who were responsible for the murder of their father. Not at all. I'm just concerned about the magnitude of their anger. They say anger is a secondary emotion we feel when we've been hurt or are afraid. No doubt they have been deeply hurt. Sorrow would be totally understandable. They clearly did not cause their father's death. The fact that the Hells Angels got involved was absurd.
What if Dain had fought back? What if Dain had stepped back when Thomas swung the bat and stepped forward after it passed? What if Dain disarmed Thomas and kicked his ass? They would have come back with guns and killed him along with his entire family. It was a no win situation. In the movie Gladiator the hero deeply missed his wife and child who were murdered. He had a firm belief that he would one day see them again. His friend agreed but reminded him not yet. Not yet. Dain made the ultimate sacrifice for his family. They need to take the ball and run with it. Peace.
I will add that a $100 victim surcharge is rather astounding. $100 for murder? That's bizarre. No doubt Dain's widow could easily file a civil suit against the Hells Angels for wrong death and sue them for lost wages. That would be a little more appropriate.
Someone was having a hard time posting comments and asked me to post this on their behalf. chopstix2112 said:
ReplyDeleteunfortunately, agent k, there is no ultimate knowing if some deity exist when we all kick off (and hell, given the brutality of what occured, let alone just reading the many examples of human brutality inflicted on one another each day, you can easily believe there is no God).
imo instead Dain's boys have to use their anger towards taking down these scum licking, flea infested vermin cockroaches using our political and judicial powers at hand: first by having these greasy socially amoral, immature a-holes declared officially a criminal organization (and any official gang, for that matter). part of the victim impact statement from dain's wife almost had me in tears (and also enraged at the unnecessary senselessness of it all):
”I will never forget the frantic calls I made to Dain that went unanswered as he was laying beaten, lifeless on the road. The panic I saw and felt when I learned of this and saw his bloated head in hospital. No words could describe my state. He was unrecognizable. I suffered a heart attack that night and was hospitalized myself. Sedated as I was, I am unable to remember saying good-bye to him. I was unable to be present at his side in sickness, as he was for me so many times.”
Weak assholes who have now run afoul of the the rest of the gang...hence the beatings inflicted at NFPC with no further actions taken against Johnston etc. He walked around in GP after beating the prez of a HA chapter....no way that could happen unless east end pulled their support and gave blessing.
ReplyDeleteCircumstances like this bother me greatly. Why is it always "after the fact" of a good person's violent death that everyone wishes the outcome was different? The time to set the stage for that better outcome is beforehand, afterward is too late.
ReplyDeleteA couple of thugs getting out of a vehicle and approaching with a bat and a hammer, in a threatening manner = reasonable fear of grievous bodily harm /death.
Imagine the different outcome if Dain Phillips had been legally allowed to arm himself, knowing that a couple of Hell's Angels might be coming after him. Instead of a good man lying dead in the ground, a couple of scumbag Hell's Angels take his place. Society would be much better off. Same with the Surrey hockey mom who's killer still walks the street.
People need to realize that a government that does not allow you to protect yourself doesn't care about you. You pay to be protected (taxes, police etc.) and it doesn't work, but if you realize this and understand that no one else can truly protect you, and take steps to protect yourself, (like acquiring/carrying/learning how to use a pistol) YOU will be persecuted. 100 years ago it was common for people to do this and no one thought they were crazy for doing so. They had police then too, so why would it be any different now? And I think we can all agree that crime was not what it is these days back then, so all the more reason. And yet not. Why is that?
The sad part is, many of the survivor's of the victims of violent crime would, if asked, agree that the government is right not to allow people to carry a firearm for self defense. They have been so thoroughly brainwashed that not even the violent death and loss of their loved one will jar them out of that belief.
The types of people (politicians) who make up your government want you to sit down, shut up, pay your taxes, and don't question them in their little schemes. They are in charge, not you.They do not want a strong citizen of independent thought who demands their rights, this hinders them in their ambitions in ways beyond the capacity to defend oneself. It is the mentality that such an ability breeds in a man that they fear. A man alone and unarmed against a group, any group, has only two options, submit or resist and lose. An armed and capable man is a different story altogether. Most police do not want anyone but them to have guns, if they could arrange that. Ask yourself why, and don't accept only that first easy answer that occurs to you. Because it's not true, it's just the answer you've been conditioned to have.
Bear in mind that it is not always a case of someone getting shot. Awareness on the part of a coward (or the plural, they do not tend to travel alone) who attacks defenseless victims that his potential victim has a gun is often enough to dissuade them from their intent. There are more incidents that are resolved by simple display of the weapon than are taken to the conclusion of the problem being actually shot, even thought that might actually (and especially in this case) be the more satisfactory conclusion.
Citizens to the south are (mostly) trusted by their government to be responsible enough to protect themselves. (The places where they aren't have much higher crime rates) There's no reason why Canadians should be less so, but that they believe that they should be. Dain Phillips might not have agreed with this before they day he was beaten to death in the street, but I think it's not a stretch to say that if it were possible for him to get a "do over", he might do it differently. Certainly it might be interesting to ask his family what they think about that. I have $100 says they wish he had a Glock that day.
Add Dain Phillips and his family's names to the long list of victims, broken bodies and ruined lives that accompanies the reign of the Hell's Angels in BC.
Dains boys need to run tnhomas cocks over as they leave jail the same minute they step out to taste freedom . I no they can't live a healthy life thinking that way but I'm sure it would be hard to feel like 15 years is no justice .
ReplyDeleteI think the next question we need to ask isn't is 15 years a just sentence for manslaughter. The next question we need to ask is should mandatory statutory release even be considered for violent crimes like murder or rape? Serving only two thirds of a 15 year sentence for manslaughter is not right. That's what we are looking at. That needs to be fixed. Just like the two for one pretrial credit was.
DeleteLike ice cream, justice comes in different flavors. Not everyone has the same preferences. ;)
DeleteIf it was actually manslaughter, I would have no problem with 10-15 years, but I would not say this was anything less than 2nd degree IMHO, and to me the fact that they armed up, went looking for him, and then hit him in the head with a hammer makes it 1st degree all the way. If you just intend to beat someones ass but not kill them, you stay away from the head neck and body. AFAIC the moment you hit someone in the head, you intended them to die, and the fact that you went looking for them to begin with makes it malice aforethought, therefore 1st degree. And that would be life without the possibility of parole in my book. By this I mean you never come out before you assume room temperature. But what do I know......
DeleteCorrect. Hitting someone in the head with a hammer has the intent to kill them.
Deleteso much for the tough biker theory eh? 7 guys with bats and hammers , real tough guys there. here"s wishing that the mcrae bros. get what's coming to them . death.
ReplyDeleteThis case is very sad in a lot of ways.
ReplyDeleteI have known the Phillips brothers, the McRaes and Anson Schell since middle school. All of these young men have gone down a bad path and that's including the Phillips and their father ...
The media is making it so very one sided, trying to make the father out to be some innocent family man that played hockey ... Well if Kody and kaylin are so innocent and wholesome why was
kodys child taken away? He smokes so much weed and does so many drugs he can badly articulate a sentence. Sure the father played hockey 30 years
Ago .. But who didn't?! The McRaes fish, hunt, dirt bike, have a nice home, nice parents, beautiful brothers and sisters, they don't publish that. Just because this fight went terribly wrong a lot of people's lives are deatroyed. It takes
Two to tango! And I bet if kody and kaylin could have "won" this fight and been tougher,
Or known a jells angel they would have brought them to this pathetic dispute.
I'm not saying anyone is innocent, there is no winner here. But it's just not fair ..
Kody and kaylin and his father went to this fight and I can guarantee it wasn't to resolve. They wanted to fight. I think norm and rob deserve more time in prison but not the younger boys involved. They need some guidance! All of them
I think the key point here is that killing someone is very different than beating them up and that swarming someone is anything but noble. The McRae kid brought his adult friend who is a member of the Hells Angels onto the dispute and got him to punch a kid at school in the head. That was pretty pathetic. Yes Dain got involved and chased the adult who punched his son in the head. That’s when the big bad Hells Angel got another Hells Angel and a mob of guys to beat him to death with baseball bats and hammers.
DeleteThe key point here is hitting someone in the head with a hammer is murder. It’s not a fair fight. I agree Dain’s sons have to get over the small town rivalry nonsense. We all have to be able to let some of the smaller things go before they become big things. This whole concept of I’m gonna bring some of my friends and they're gonna bring some of their friends until all of a sudden we have this huge world war over nothing. It’s senseless and tragic.
Part of the problem could very well be hockey. This social acceptance of fighting. In the city if you kick someone’s ass, they’ll come back with a gun and shoot you dead. In the city, that’s the way it is. That’s why the biggest guys don’t always make it on the street. They’re just a big target. Again the key point is hitting someone in the head with a hammer is not a fair fight and we all have to step back and let the smaller things go before they escalate out of control where as you say there are no winners.
"No winners." .... nuff said
DeleteHockey fights?? They've been around as long as hockey.
ReplyDeleteUFC is more of a culprit. Other contributing factors might be glorified violence in lyrics and movies that has increased exponentially over the years. And lets not forget the media itself.
"I will add that a $100 victim surcharge is rather astounding. $100 for murder? That's bizarre. No doubt Dain's widow could easily file a civil suit against the Hells Angels for wrong death and sue them for lost wages. That would be a little more appropriate."
ReplyDeleteThis is where it gets weird. In Norm and Rob's plea deal the words and affiliations with the "Hells Angels" are removed. This is obviously a very important omission perhaps protecting the club from a lawsuit such as this. No mention of the hells angels anywhere in the plea agreement. Many have been bewildered by this.
Interesting point but I really don't think that in any way protects the club from an unlawful death suit. It's pretty obvious they were both full patch members of the Hells Angels and when Rob threatened Dain he repeated three times So you wanna fuck with the Hells Angels? Now that they have plead guilty to the crime and the statement of agreed facts has been submitted on the record, there's nothing left for them to dispute. Did they kill him? Yes. Were they members of the Hells Angels? Yes. Did they use the name of the Hells Angels in the motive for their murder? Yes. It's pretty cut and dry. Not very hard to prove in court since it's all there on the record. That would be a civil action not criminal. Just don't let Peter Leask preside on it now that he's been kicked off of criminal cases.
Delete