Lying on the ground, dazed from multiple blows to his head, Fred Edrissi had just one question for his attacker.

“Why? Why do you want to kill me?”

The answer was far from noble.

“Give me your money, give me your money.”

Less than a month later, and with months of recovery and rehabilitation ahead, Edrissi has another question: why, according to the justice system, is his life worth $500?

That’s the amount Edrissi, 58, learned last week was set as bail for the suspect in his attack. The man, a 43-year-old Surrey resident, was arrested Aug. 17 after he turned himself in at the Surrey detachment. He was released from custody four days later.

According to a court worker, no money had to be put down or guaranteed, and the accused may never actually have to pay the $500 bail.

Meanwhile, Edrissi, former owner of Bistro Aubergine in White Rock, is wheelchair-bound and reliant on his wife, Sabine, for virtually all his daily needs.

His right knee was shattered, and his left wrist broken during the attack at a 32 Avenue property. He also suffered broken ribs and a concussion, and needed multiple stitches to close wounds to his head and face.

The attack took place around 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1, when Edrissi went to deal with a mechanic who had been doing work on his van.

The mechanic was staying temporarily on property belonging to a friend of Edrissi’s.

Edrissi was told the man was down on his luck and had a family to support, so Edrissi, in an effort to help, agreed to pay him for some maintenance and a few repairs.

He said he never imagined he’d end up in a fight for his life.

According to the police report, officers attended a property in the 16800-block of 32 Avenue after a woman reported that her husband was assaulting another man with a monkey wrench.

Edrissi said he was hit with a pipe wrench and a hammer. He said he was helping with a grinder and had his back to the mechanic when the attack began.

“I was working on the grinder then suddenly whack, whack, whack. I turned around and I just said, ‘why?’”

As the assault continued, Edrissi flashed back through events leading up to that moment – from repeated delays in getting the work done, to the mechanic needing money for gas and asking Edrissi to come back in an hour, to being asked to park in a spot that, looking back, Edrissi realizes left him with no way out.

He recalled having an uneasy feeling, “but I couldn’t really think about something evil.”

Edrissi believes the attack lasted about 20 minutes – “he kept coming after me” – until another tenant on the property finally heard the commotion and came out to see what was going on. By that time, Edrissi had sought refuge under a truck. Even there, he had to dodge further attempts to cause him injury.

The attacker fled before police arrived.

Sabine said police at the hospital told her her husband had been badly beaten, but that he would be OK, and that they had seen worse.

But the words didn’t lessen the blow that hit when she saw Edrissi. She said his head was covered in blood and swollen to nearly double in size, and his left eye was bloodshot. His right knee, shattered in nine places during the struggle, was the size of a football.

The experience has left the Edrissis angry and fearful. They no longer leave their doors unlocked when they are home, and Sabine doesn’t get out of her car until the garage door has safely closed behind her. They keep a charged cellphone in their bedroom now, in case someone cuts their landline.

“You just don’t feel safe anymore. For us, it’s a totally new life now,” said Sabine.

“His bones will heal, but we will never be the same anymore.”

She, too, is upset the suspect was released so quickly and for so little.

“This justice system... it’s not for victims, it’s not for honest people,” she said.