Six month sentence issued for home break-in

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on June 7, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge woman who was awakened by a noise in her home received quite a fright after she found a drunken man inside her house.
At about 5:30 a.m. on July 30, 2020, the woman, who was alone in the house with her infant son, went to investigate the noise and found Gerald Allan Seaton in her basement.
Seaton, 26, pleaded guilty Monday in Lethbridge provincial court to a charge of break and enter and commit mischief, and was sentenced to six months in jail.
“Mr. Seaton, who was heavily intoxicated at the time, had pried his way in through a window in the basement and had effectively fallen asleep on the couch in her basement,” Crown Prosecutor Adam Zelmer told court. “She heard the commotion, came down, and as you can imagine sir, had quite a fright.”
The woman called police, and when they arrived Seaton was still in the residence and arrested, along with a second suspect, who was “struggling to get through the basement window at the time,” Zelmer said.
Seaton, who appeared in court by CCTV from the Calgary Remand Centre, is doing better after spending time in remand, explained Calgary lawyer George Sirois.
“He tells me he’s feeling physically much better,” Sirois said. “His time in jail thus far has actually been a period of sobriety for him that has been life altering in his estimation.
In addition to his jail sentence, which is deemed served by time he’s already spent in pre-trial custody, Seaton will be on probation for one year, during which he is prohibited from consuming alcohol and drugs. He is also prohibited from possessing weapons for 10 years, and he must submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Data Bank.
Judge D. R. Pahl accepted the joint submission from the Crown and defence for a six-month jail sentence, but warned Seaton his sentences will only get longer if he doesn’t change his life.
“You need to consider yourself extremely lucky that you’re not facing a much larger sentence,” Pahl said. “Breaking into someone’s home, especially a home with a young mother with a young child, is one of the most serious offences that the courts consider.”
He urged Seaton to take stock of his life and do whatever he can to avoid getting into trouble again with the law.
“It would be a shame to see a young guy at your age throw all your opportunities away.”

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