The man accused of stabbing and seriously injuring an Abbotsford, B.C., laundromat owner last summer is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to one of the charges he was facing.
Timothy Richard Louis Rowley, 41, was initially charged with assault with a weapon and aggravated assault in the Aug. 9, 2025, incident.
On Jan. 19, he entered a guilty plea to aggravated assault, the BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) confirmed.
At the time of the offence, Rowley was out of prison on statutory release, a provision in Canadian law that requires that most offenders be released to complete the final third of their sentence under supervision in the community.
He was also wanted by police for being unlawfully at large from his parole jurisdiction.
Parole board documents reveal Rowley previously stabbed a paraplegic man multiple times.
In May 2019, while he was intoxicated, Rowley attempted to use a shoelace to strangle a man who was being interviewed by the police, the documents state.
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He was arrested and released pending a future court date. But nine hours later, he entered the Maple Ridge home of a 57-year-old paraplegic man who was watching TV.
“You set fire to his property and then attacked him. You stabbed him repeatedly with a knife. This victim suffered six stab wounds, two rib fractures, and a pneumothorax. This victim spent five days in hospital for treatment,” the document states.
Rowley pleaded guilty to breaking and entering, assault with a weapon and aggravated assault, and was handed a sentence just short of six years.
According to the parole board decision, Rowley was paroled twice, both unsuccessfully.
He has an extensive criminal record with more than 20 convictions dating back to 2004 – including assault causing bodily harm, assaulting a peace officer, vehicle theft, weapons offences, fraud, and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
In Oct. 2018, Rowley received 72 days in jail and nine months’ probation for the fatal beating of a Canada goose in Vancouver’s Stanley Park.
Rowley remains in custody ahead of a possible bail hearing on Jan. 29.
The court has ordered a pre-sentence report with a Gladue component, according to the BCPS.
Gladue principles are the result of a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that determined judges must take Canada’s colonial past into account when sentencing Indigenous offenders.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 17 in Abbotsford.
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