Man liable for brutal beating in Maple Ridge after judge rejects ‘stranger’ story

A BC Supreme Court judge has found a man liable for a brutal 2019 assault at a Maple Ridge home, rejecting his account that a stranger was suddenly intervened in a fight and was responsible for leaving the victim unconscious and badly injured.

On Aug. 14, Justice Jasmin Ahmad found Scott Wesley Sheriff liable for trespass, assault and battery against Kyle Clayton over the June 22, 2019 attack, which left Clayton with a broken nose, concussion, cuts requiring stitches and bruising across much of his body. Damages will be determined at a later date.

The civil case centred on sharply conflicting accounts of what happened after Sheriff drove to Clayton’s Maple Ridge home following an earlier confrontation between Clayton and Sheriff’s 12-year-old son, Connor.

Ahmad ultimately rejected Sheriff’s version of events, finding his evidence “self-serving, contradictory in material respects, and unbelievable.”

“I do not find him to be a credible witness,” Ahmad said. “By contrast, Mr. Clayton’s evidence was consistent and was not formulated simply in his favour.”

The confrontation began earlier that day when Clayton encountered Connor near the home Clayton shared with his parents. Clayton testified that Connor jumped a fence, grabbed garbage and recycling bins and scattered debris around the yard.

Clayton acknowledged he was “steaming mad” and grabbed the boy by his shirt while telling him not to return. Connor gave a different account, saying Clayton grabbed him, wrestled with him and struck him in the ribs.

Connor later called his father, who drove from Vancouver back to Maple Ridge, picked up his son from a friend’s house at about 9 p.m. and went directly to Clayton’s house

Clayton was sitting in a fenced barbecue area when Sheriff arrived, immediately accused him of assaulting his son, jumped over the property’s perimeter fence and crossed the yard toward Clayton.

The two men began fighting and Clayton initially gained the upper hand, getting Sheriff onto his back.

Within about four seconds, however, two or three other people joined the fight, who Ahmad concluded had arrived with Sheriff in his SUV.

Together, they punched, kicked and struck Clayton across his body for about five minutes, according to the court’s findings. Sheriff remained until the end of the attack and was the last person to leave, after apparently checking Clayton’s pulse.

Clayton testified that he was in and out of consciousness during the beating, describing it as “non-stop” and “brutal.” He said someone stomped on the back of his head when he tried to get up and kicked him in the face when he attempted to turn over.

He was unconscious when the beating ended.

“They left me for dead,” Clayton said.

Clayton eventually crawled into the kitchen and called his parents, who contacted the RCMP and took him to hospital. Medical records showed he suffered a broken nose, facial bruising and lacerations, chest pain, a concussion and multiple contusions to his head, legs, feet, hands, ribs and back.

Sheriff admitted being involved in the initial fight but denied bringing anyone else with him other than Connor. He claimed an unknown man intervened on his behalf and was responsible for Clayton’s serious injuries.

Connor also testified that a stranger intervened. Evidence from Connor – who died in 2025 in what police described as a shooting related to the drug-trade – was introduced from a transcript he gave at the related criminal trial. 

Ahmad found that explanation implausible.

The judge said it “strains the bounds of credulity” that a complete stranger would suddenly enter the fight and violently beat Clayton to unconsciousness without knowing what had caused the confrontation or who had started it.

Ahmad also found Sheriff’s testimony contained major contradictions, including differing accounts of what he saw as he left the property.

At the earlier criminal trial, Sheriff testified that he did not see what happened between Clayton and the supposed stranger. In the civil proceedings, however, he gave evidence at different points that Clayton was unconscious and in “pretty rough shape,” and that Clayton was standing and arguing with the stranger.

“The inconsistencies in this evidence are wholly irreconcilable, leading to the inescapable conclusion that at least two parts, or perhaps all, of this evidence was fabricated,” Ahmad said.

The judge also pointed to RCMP photographs showing blood and crushed grass inside the barbecue area. That evidence contradicted Sheriff and Connor’s claim that the fight occurred near the property’s perimeter fence and supported Clayton’s account of where the attack took place.

Ahmad went further, finding similarities between Sheriff and Connor’s accounts supported an inference that their evidence had been “deliberately coordinated” in an attempt to absolve Sheriff of responsibility.

The judge concluded Sheriff was the aggressor, saying his decision to travel to the property and his language upon arriving were consistent with an intention to confront Clayton rather than simply discuss what had happened with his son.

Ahmad found Sheriff and the unidentified assailants jointly and severally liable for the attack.

“By failing to identify the people who accompanied him to the Clayton residence, Mr. Sheriff has made it impossible for Mr. Clayton to test all the evidence to ascertain or prove with certainty who was responsible for which of the injuries he sustained,” Ahmad said.

“The fact that Mr. Sheriff made up and advanced the unbelievable story of a stranger’s intervention, under oath, serves to exacerbate his culpability.”

The amount Sheriff will have to pay Clayton has not yet been determined. Clayton was also awarded his legal costs to date.