Accused receives jail time for breaches

By Lethbridge Herald on September 27, 2022.

Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald
dshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A 30-year-old Lethbridge man who a judge said showed “gross disregard” for the well-being of his girlfriend’s young daughter, has been sentenced to four months in jail for assault.

Christopher Anthony DeGeorgio was sentenced this week after pleading guilty in Lethbridge provincial court to two counts of assault. One of the assaults was against the 6-year-old girl’s father, who was holding his daughter in his arms when DeGeorgio punched him in the side of the head.

The father was with his daughter on Sept. 15 of last year, and they were spending time together at a playground at Henderson Lake Park with his ex-wife, who is allowed supervised visits with her daughter twice a week.

Near the conclusion of the supervised visit, DeGeorgio approached the father as he and his daughter, as well as the father’s young son, were returning to the parking lot. An altercation ensued, during which DeGeorgio pushed the boy out of the way and punched his father in the left ear, knocking him to the ground. The little girl also fell to the ground, where she struck her head on the pavement. She was not seriously hurt, however.

“It’s essentially an assault on both of them,” Crown Prosecutor Clayton Giles said.

DeGeorgio fled after witnesses ran to help the family, but before driving away he bent his licence plate in an attempt to avoid identification.

Lethbridge lawyer Vincent Guinan agreed with the Crown’s description of events, and noted the incident was recorded on a witness’s cellphone. He also agreed that his client’s actions amounted to transferred intent, which occurs when the intention to harm one individual inadvertently causes a second person to be hurt.

“Obviously he did not strike the child directly, but in striking the other adult, we accept the transferred intent,” Guinan said.

Giles, who recommended a six-month sentence, said DeGeorgio has a substantial criminal record, which includes convictions for possession of stolen property, fraud, assault, uttering threats, breaches of court orders and sexual contact with a child, for which he received fines or short jail sentences. He was also convicted in 2012 of robbery and sentenced to four years in prison, and he received a one-year jail sentence for drug trafficking. In 2020 he was convicted of unlawful confinement, assault and choking, all in relation to a domestic relationship.

“Mr. DeGeorgio has been told on a number of occasions that this kind of behaviour is wholly and absolutely unacceptable,” Giles said. “He has acted in improper ways in relation to other members of society, and in particular, children.”

Guinan told court that even though DeGeorgio appears “normal,” he suffers from cognitive deficits and receives financial support through AISH, Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped. DeGeorgio is also addicted to drugs, primarily fentanyl, and began using drugs when he was only 14 or 15 years old after “uncles put him up to it.”

Guinan agreed that jail is necessary, but he suggested a sentence of 90 days total for both assaults, and urged the judge to exercise restraint and allow some mitigation for DeGeorgio’s guilty plea and his many cognitive deficits and drug addictions.

“He’s kind of hit rock bottom.”

Judge F.A. Day expressed a number of concerns, including DeGeorgio’s “gross disregard” for the well-being of the child, his lack of anger control and his criminal record.

“His record is, without question, aggravating, and in particular the number of offences where violence is a factor,” Day said.

He said DeGeorgio’s “remarkably long record” speaks to his drug addiction and other problems, but while that may explain his actions, it doesn’t excuse them.

“So the record is not just aggravating, it’s very aggravating, given both its length and the nature of these offences, and as I’ve indicated, the fact that he has offended similarly more than once in the past.”

Day acknowledged DeGeorgio’s guilty plea, but questioned whether it was an expression of remorse or his acceptance that the Crown’s case could be easily proven had it gone to trial.

“I am mindful that a plea is mitigating. I’m of the view it’s not very mitigating given that it comes after the accused sees that there is video evidence of his conduct.”

Day also considered the sentencing principle of rehabilitation, and while he suggested society never wants to give up on one of its members and is hopeful rehabilitation is possible, he isn’t convinced that’s likely in DeGeorgio’s case.

“I frankly doubt it given his record; his behaviours to date.”

Day sentenced DeGeorgio to four months in jail for the assault against the father, and two months in jail for the assault against the girl. However, the two sentences will run concurrently, not one after the other as recommended by the Crown. DeGeorgio will also be on probation for one year, during which he is prohibited from contacting the father and he must take counselling for substance abuse and anger management.

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