Advisory: This story contains descriptions of violence.
A Greater Victoria man convicted of repeatedly confining and strangling his girlfriend, sometimes to the point of her passing out, has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Tyler Mark Denniston was in May 2023 of three counts of unlawful confinement, three counts of assault and assault causing bodily harm to his former partner, whose identity is protected.
The attacks happened on four days in 2018 and 2019. The woman testified during trial that Denniston strangled her multiple times, smashed her head against a couch, threatened to break her fingers and confined her several times, once preventing her from eating, drinking, sleeping or using her phone for 24 hours.
Crown prosecutor Paul Pearson and defence counsel Neil Brooks jointly suggested a four-year sentence for Denniston. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Giaschi agreed with the sentence and imposed a lifetime firearms prohibition and a prohibition on contacting the victim for four years. Denniston is also required to give a DNA sample.
Giaschi said aggravating factors included that the victim was Denniston’s intimate partner, his previous history of assault against intimate partners and the lengthy periods, often overnight, that he confined the victim.
In a victim impact statement read by Pearson, the victim said she has become someone she doesn’t recognize after the abuse. “I was angry, broken and terrified. I’ve struggled to trust anyone, even my close friends and family.”
She said she has struggled with explosive anger, paralyzing panic attacks and thoughts of suicide.
She has trouble falling asleep, and when she does sleep, suffers from nightmares “reliving being locked up, gasping for air.” Her heart races at the sight of a Jeep, the car Denniston drove, and she is unable to relax even in her own home.
“I seem to never be able to get away from the hold and trauma this man had on on me.”
The victim shook as her statement was read to the court, and supporters wrapped their arms around her.
Denniston’s substance-use issues and difficult and unstable childhood were mitigating factors in his sentencing, Giaschi said. A Gladue report, used in sentencing Indigenous offenders, was prepared for Denniston’s sentencing.
Denniston’s grandmother was a residential school survivor who was ashamed of her culture and denied it, and as a result, Denniston does not have a connection to his heritage, Giaschi said. His father was an alcoholic and a drug user, and Denniston started drinking at 13, using cannabis at 14 and cocaine at 17, he said.
Denniston was born into poverty and grew up in a dysfunctional home, Brooks said. His mother, a source of comfort and stability for him, died when he was 11. His father ran over his sister and killed her, and his brother sexually abused him, Brooks said.
“This is perhaps your one and only opportunity to take steps to turn things around. I hope you take advantage of those opportunities,” Giaschi said to Denniston as he sentenced him to four years in prison.
A large group of supporters of the victim, including another former partner of Denniston, were in the courtroom Monday.
Kendall Parkinson dated Denniston on and off from June 2016 to August 2017. She said the victim’s experience of abuse mirrored hers and she came to the courthouse to support the victim.
“I know how traumatic the court process is to go through as I’ve been through it myself, and I think it’s just better for more people to be there to support and just stand up for domestic violence and for survivors,” she said.
Denniston was convicted of assaulting Parkinson in November 2018 and sentenced to 210 days in jail, minus time served. It was during those proceedings that Parkinson met the victim, who was dating Denniston at the time and attended to support him.
She connected with Parkinson and the two have become friends, she said.
Parkinson was also confined and “choked almost to death” multiple times and suffers from trauma-induced epilepsy, she said. She lost her driver’s licence after having a seizure behind the wheel last year, and hasn’t been able to work in more than two years, she said.
Parkinson said she tried to end the relationship but ended up going back to Denniston, a pattern that’s common for victims of domestic abuse. She left for good after Denniston confined her in their Langford home for hours, she said.
“I finally woke up and I ran away. I ran down the street and he chased me. And luckily a woman came out onto her deck and she called 911,” she said. Denniston turned and ran, and Parkinson kept running in the opposite direction until she met a police car and waved officers down.
Denniston went to jail on unrelated charges soon after, she said.
Parkinson said she was glad to see Denniston receive a longer sentence after serving just a few months related to the abuse she suffered.
“And it’s because people stand up and speak,” she said.
Sgt. Jon Cawsey, a Saanich police officer who works in the Regional Domestic Violence Unit, said a four-year sentence is longer than what he usually sees. The unit handles the highest-risk cases of intimate partner violence in the region.
“It’s great to see. It’s great to be here to support two women that came forward ultimately to tell their story about the tragedy that they’ve gone through and to see some accountability for the offender,” said Cawsey, who has worked with both victims.
