Kelowna orchard owners hit back at serial harasser

One of only two known photos of Daryl Grant MacAskill.

One of two known photographs by Daryl Grant MacAskill.

Image credits: Ralph van der Walle

August 22, 2024 – 7:00 PM

A family of Kelowna fruit growers, who have become the latest target of a British Columbia man’s intimidation campaign, are suing him for defamation.

Sandher Fruit Packers filed a claim in the British Columbia Supreme Court on August 19 against convicted fraudster Daryl Grant MacAskill, accusing him of intentionally causing “fear, anxiety and emotional distress” to the family.

“Mr MacAskill’s malicious conduct was and remains so outrageous in its nature, duration and extreme degree that it exceeds all possible bounds of decency and tolerance,” the claim said.

MacAskill runs the blog Gangsterism Out and began writing about the Sandher family in March. The 62-year-old posts are poorly written and confusing, and he has targeted many others in similar ways before. He spread lies and smeared them before asking them for money to remove the posts. He has also served time in prison for it.

Gurtaj Sandher, president of Sandher Fruit Packers, previously said MacAskill had not asked them for money.

READ MORE: ‘HE WON’T STOP’: Serial Harasser Has Kelowna Family in His Targets

Court documents show the blog contained malicious allegations that the family was involved with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is considered terrorist by the Indian government, and organized crime groups from British Columbia.

MacAskill’s blogs accuse the family of being involved in criminal activities including “murder, human trafficking, terrorism, drug trafficking, drug smuggling, extortion, money laundering, bribery and fraud,” according to court documents.

According to the indictment, MacAskill used images on his blog related to terrorist organizations and drug cartels to “incite an emotional response” between the family and criminal behavior.

The court documents detail the many blogs and dozens of emails MacAskill has sent to the family, the media, business owners and others since he brought them to his attention in the spring.

It is not known why MacAskill specifically targeted the orchard managers, but he has a long history of intimidating behaviour.

In 2022, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ordered MacAskill to pay $190,000 to a Vancouver investment firm for his online smear campaign. He also spent two weeks in jail for contempt of court.

MacAskill demanded money from the company to take the blogs offline. One email simply said, “Pay me off.”

The investment company did not pay, but others did.

One company told iNFOnews.ca it paid MacAskill about $10,000 to quit.

He once created over 2,300 accounts on an online investment website because it kept banning him. He created 184 in one day.

He was also criminally charged with harassing a Vancouver lawyer, but the charges were later dropped.

In the mid-1990s, he was charged with 27 counts of tax fraud and spent six months in prison after being found guilty of ten counts.

Previous victims said MacAskill’s campaigns of intimidation and defamation were relentless, costing them thousands of dollars in legal fees and wasting endless amounts of time trying to deal with him.

The investment firm has yet to see a cent back of the $190,000 it received, which is not surprising given that MacAskill is reportedly homeless and living in a tent camp in Burnaby.

After receiving numerous emails from MacAskill after iNFOnews.ca first wrote about him, we made the unusual decision not to ask him for comment for this story.

The Sandher family did not respond to our request for comment.

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