A 24-year-old Surrey man who took part in a 2006 axe attack at Tynehead Hall that left a teenager a quadriplegic has had his statutory release revoked for engaging in “deceptive and secretive behaviour” and associating with a known criminal.
Enrique Quintana, who was 17 at the time of the attack on Surrey’s Michael Levy, was released from prison on March 13, 2013 after serving two-thirds of a seven-year, seven-month sentence.
Two other young men, Robert Green and Tuan “Tony” Nguyen, aged 18 and 17 at the time of the assault, attacked Levy with fists, bear spray and a glass bottle before Quintana struck the victim three times in the back of the neck with a hatchet, severing his spinal column.
Green was sentenced to three years in prison, and Nguyen received a 20-month conditional sentence.
Since his release, Quintana had been staying at a halfway house and was under strict conditions to abstain from drugs and alcohol, be on good behaviour and not to associate with anyone involved in criminal activity.
While initially described as using his time productively – working full time and attending church – on June 1, 2013, Quintana returned late to the halfway house bleeding with cuts and bruises on his face that staff noted as consistent with having being punched.
“You were described as being barely able to stand up and mumbling your words,” the parole board wrote in its decision to revoke Quintana’s release.
On Aug. 14, halfway house staff reported that Quintana had been “more energetic than usual” and was “thinking that everything was funny.”
When confronted about his behaviour, he admitted to drinking three beers and five shots of vodka.
On Dec. 18, Quintana told a parole officer that the police had contacted him about a known drug dealer friend of his who had been murdered.
He had met with the man on four occasions and had been using a borrowed cellphone, which he kept hidden from halfway house staff to phone him.
When packing Quintana’s belongings, halfway house staff found approximately $2,000 in cash and several items in their original packaging, such as women’s clothing, skin care products and HDMI cables, which was deemed suspicious due to Quintana’s short work history.
“The Board concludes there is reliable and persuasive information that you were deceptive, secretive and manipulative, and you breached an important special condition by associating with a person you knew or reasonably should have known was involved in criminal activity,” the board wrote. “After considering all of these findings, the Board concludes your risk to reoffend has elevated and is currently undue.”
Quintana’s statutory release was revoked on Feb. 27.