Two month sentence for uttering threats, mischief

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on June 3, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A 28-year-old Lethbridge man who grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and suffers from PTSD from his life there, has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for threatening to kill his brother’s former girlfriend.
Tresor Nkuba was sentenced Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court after pleading guilty to one count of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of mischief causing damage and was sentenced to an additional 30 days in jail.
The threats charge stems from an incident on April 8 of this year after Nkuba was ticketed for stunting, and police took from him a kitchen knife he had taken from the home of his brother’s former girlfriend. Nkuba was upset over the incident and returned to the woman’s home where he grabbed more knives and sat on the woman while he held a knife to her face and said he was going to “murt” her, which is slang for murder.
About two weeks later one of the woman’s neighbours called police and reported that someone had thrown a rock through the woman’s window. When police arrived they saw the smashed patio window and two rocks on the floor just inside the house. The woman told police Nkuba was at her residence earlier in the day and she had to call her neighbour to help make Nkuba leave. Nkuba returned later, however, and when the woman said he couldn’t come in he threw a rock through the patio window.
“(The woman) looked out the window and observed Mr. Nkuba throw a second rock through the window which nearly hit her,” Fox said.
Nkuba was again charged with mischief last month while he was in custody at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre. On May 1 Nkuba walked out of his cell and entered the common area where he struck a TV mounted on a wall then ripped it from the wall and threw it on the floor. He picked it up and walked toward other inmates while holding the TV over his head as if to throw it at them. He threw the TV on the floor, however, and began following other inmates to the cells, prompting an emergency response team to take him back to his cell.
Lethbridge lawyer Justin Dean explained his client came to Canada from the Congo with his family and older brother, and he suffers from PTSD. He also developed a substance abuse problem during his early teen years but, Dean explained, he is “working to get that under control.”
In addition to his 90-day sentence, of which he only has 33 days left to serve with credit for pre-trial custody, Nkuba will also be on probation for 18 months during which he must comply with several conditions. He is prohibited from contacting or communicating with the victim or being near her home or place of employment, and he is prohibited from possessing weapons. He must also take counselling for anger management and as directed by his probation officer.

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