B.C. couple awarded damages against neighbour after 2022 shooting
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on brandonsun.com
- Read the Brandon Sun E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
*Your next Free Press subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
VICTORIA – The British Columbia Supreme Court has awarded more than $1 million in damages in a shooting that left a man with lifelong injuries and his wife traumatized after witnessing the violent confrontation.
Anthony and Wendy Nelson of Sooke, B.C., sued their neighbour Paul Tregear for shooting Anthony Nelson at point-blank range with a .22-calibre rifle in May 2022.
Tregear was convicted of aggravated assault and firearms charges last year and sentenced to seven years in prison.
The B.C. Supreme Court ruling released Monday says Tregear acted as his own lawyer, attending court by video in prison, and claimed it was “unproven” that he’d shot the man, despite being found guilty.
Justice Julie Gibson awarded $767,000 to Anthony Nelson for assault and battery and more than $279,000 to Wendy Nelson for intentional infliction of mental suffering for seeing her husband get shot by Tregear.
The ruling in civil court also ordered Tregear to pay the provincial government about $64,000 in health-care costs related to the shooting, which occurred after a history of disputes between the neighbours.
Gibson chided Tregear in the ruling for not admitting to the shooting during the civil trial, showing “exceptionally poor insight and a callous disregard for the Nelsons’ suffering.”
“His position on liability, at least up until his closing, constitutes an abuse of process that ignores the findings of his guilt at his criminal trial,” she said.
“I find Mr. Tregear liable to Mr. Nelson for the tort of assault and battery and to Ms. Nelson for intentional infliction of mental suffering. Even if I were not bound by the findings in the criminal proceeding, I would have made the same liability findings on the evidence before me in this trial.”
The sentencing ruling in Tregear’s criminal trial says he claimed he brought the gun onto the Nelsons’ property to warn them about a bear, but the judge found Tregear lied about the bear and went to his neighbour’s property with the intention of shooting the man.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2026.