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WARNING: Disturbing content. Discretion is advised.
A Nanaimo business owner is sharing what he says is a shocking story about what happened at his coffee shop earlier this week.
Ani Rathore has owned Javawocky Coffee House on Front Street since 2023.
He says he asked a person, known to businesses in the area, to move along once they were finished with their drink.
“He said, ‘I’m not gonna leave, you better call the cops, because without the cops, I’m not leaving’ and I told him, ‘if you want to go that way, sure we can do that’,” Rathore said.
“As I was dialling 911, I felt warm coffee hit my face and that’s when I knew that waiting for cops is probably not a good idea.”
Rathore said he then forced the person out of the cafe and they still tried to get back inside.
Rathore locked the door and that’s when the person undressed and eventually smeared feces over the glass doors and windows.
“After that, he started breaking my patio furniture and tossing the chairs at the windows, trying to break the windows,” Rathore said.
Rathore said the chairs were too light to break the windows, but the man was also yelling at him to go back to his country.
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He said when Nanaimo RCMP showed up, the man got down on the ground on his stomach and put his hands behind his back, waiting for the officer to cuff him.
“We’ve never had situations happen like this before,” Rathore said.
“I’ve never had this sort of resistance before.”
He said they do give free food and drinks to unhoused people in the area “quite frequently.”
In a release, Nanaimo RCMP confirmed that 40-year-old Aiden Tye of Nanaimo was charged with assault with a weapon, mischief, indecent act, indecent exhibition, and breach of a probation order.
Tye remains in custody, police said and is due in court on Feb. 3.
Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog told Global News that the person charged in the case has been “a source of an incredible array of offences, many of them involving violence.
“They are clearly an individual who should be in secure involuntary care, something I’ve been calling for for over six years for a certain portion of our street population. This individual has created incredible mayhem; they are clearly not happy and they are clearly a danger to the public.”
Krog said Tye’s record is “so substantial” that “the cost to society, the misery that must characterize every moment of their lives surely, surely points to secure involuntary care.”
In a statement, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Nina Krieger, said the government’s violent offender intervention program (REVOII) is making a difference to stop the cycle of offending.
“These hubs, including the one in Nanaimo that is monitoring 43 individuals, bring together police, dedicated prosecutors, probation officers and community integration specialists to manage individuals who repeatedly commit violent crimes,” she said.
“A recent two-year evaluation shows promising results; police interactions dropped by 50 per cent, Crown approved cases faster and individuals spent more time in custody. The review also found those who engage with the program remain charge-free longer, while those who resist face swift enforcement and longer incarceration.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
