A Vancouver man badly injured in a knife attack by a pack of teenagers has failed in his attempt to sue the youth suspected of carrying out the attack because police and the courts refused to name the underage youth.

Chanjung Kim was badly injured on April 20, 2024, when he was hit with pepper-spray to the head and neck and knifed on his right hand in an attack by three males and two females, all youth, according to a ruling in B.C. provincial court in Vancouver.

The deep slash to his right hand severed tendons and caused an arterial bleed that required application of a tourniquet at the scene and a trip to hospital, where he had surgery, it said.

Vancouver police, who answered a 911 call for the assault, found one male and two female suspects. An investigation that involved video footage from “various sources” and witness interviews led to police recommending a charge be laid against one of the youths, it said.

Meanwhile, Kim applied through the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the courts to receive a copy of the police file, including the names of the youths and their guardians, the officer’s handwritten notes, the names of the youths involved and of their guardians, and any witness statements. But he was denied.

Identifying young people is generally banned under the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act because of the “well-established principle of reduced culpability and heightened vulnerability,” McQueen wrote.

The ban is aimed at reducing stigma and supporting rehabilitation of young people and is in accord with Canada’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, she said.