Even though he claimed he can’t recall what really happened out of drunkenness, West Vancouver police Const. Griffin Gillan today (July 17) apologized to the man he assaulted in the early morning of January 21.

Appearing at a provincial court, Gillan told Firoz Khan, the newspaper deliverer he beat up outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel, that he was sorry.

Currently working temporary jobs following his suspension without pay by the West Vancouver Police Department, Gillan also told Khan that what transpired was “unacceptable”.

However, the 25-year-old officer maintained that he had “zero” recollection of the incident and was relying on statements made by witnesses.

Gillan pleaded guilty to an assault charge and will be sentenced on July 29.

The case stemmed from allegations that Gillan and two other off-duty cops assaulted and robbed Khan following an evening of heavy drinking.

A second cop, New Westminster police Const. Jeffrey Roger Klassen, will face trial next spring. The third police officer wasn’t charged in connection with the incident.

Crown counsel Ralph Keefer asked the judge to impose a prison term of four to six months on Gillan, saying there were a number of aggravating factors.

Keefer said that Gillan not only repeatedly struck Khan but also tried to have the man arrested.

The Crown lawyer also said that Gillan was also rude towards Vancouver police officers who responded to the incident, noting that the Gillan spat at and kicked the car of one of the officers.

Keefer likewise suggested to the judge that Gillan be made to undergo not only alcohol counseling but also anger management therapy.

Addressing the judge, Gillan’s lawyer David Butcher attacked Khan’s credibility as a “historian” of the event. A person of South Asian descent, Khan had claimed that one of the cops who attacked him uttered a racial slur by saying, “We don’t like brown people.”

However, Butcher said that his client is entering a guilty plea based on the testimonies of witnesses to the assault.

A lawyer who has represented several police officers before the courts, Butcher strongly disagreed with Keefer’s sentencing recommendation.

Butcher asked the judge to discharge his client as he enumerated several cases in which other judges didn’t impose prison terms on police officers who had committed graver offences.

Emerging from the court in the morning and later after the afternoon session, Khan refused to answer reporters’ questions on whether he accepts Gillan’s apology.

The Khan family was accompanied by Liberal senator Mobina Jaffer, whose law firm is representing the Surrey resident.

Jaffer told reporters that Khan is currently neither working nor receiving any benefits like employment insurance. “So he is really destitute,” Jaffer said.

Butcher didn’t take media questions, and neither did Gillan.