Man sentenced to 75 days on two assault charges
By Shurtz, Delon on May 6, 2020.
Delon Shurtz
lethbridge herald
A 39-year-old man convicted of assaulting two girlfriends won’t be looking for love for a few weeks.
Paul-Andre Dubois was sentenced Monday in Lethbridge provincial court to 75 days in jail after pleading guilty to two charges of assault, as well as charges of failure to attend court, breach of release conditions and mischief.
The first assault occurred June 27 last year after Dubois and his girlfriend had broken up. His former girlfriend had moved out of the residence they shared, but when she returned to retrieve a few of her belongings, he pushed her several times, held her down and refused to let her leave. She sustained a cut during the altercation.
The second assault occurred last month when Dubois was living with a female roommate. Dubois was still sleeping when the woman took the keys and left the residence to go downtown. Dubois woke up, chased after her and demanded the keys, but after she gave him the keys, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the ground.
Police were notified by a witness who said he saw a man hitting a woman and with his hands around her neck while she was on the ground.
Dubois was charged with mischief in February after he went to a city pharmacy as it was closing and asked an employee for a dose of methadone. Dubois became angry after the employee said the pharmacy was closed, and smashed the side-view mirror on the man’s car. He picked up the broken mirror, placed it on the man’s car, and drove away.
Dubois also failed to attend court last July in relation to the first domestic assault, and several weeks later breached a condition of his release by emailing and texting the woman even though he had been prohibited from contacting her. He was, Crown Prosecutor Tom Brannen told court, trying to reconcile with her.
A couple of weeks later he breached again when, under the same no-contact conditions, he sent the woman a lengthy email blaming her for ending the relationship.
In addition to his jail sentence, for which he was given credit for 39 days already spent in custody, Dubois will be on probation for 18 months, during which he must behave himself, be assessed and take counselling for anger management and domestic violence. He must not possess any weapons, and not have any contact with any of the complainants. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $481 for smashing the car mirror.
Lethbridge lawyer Greg White pointed out his client, who is a Red Seal chef and has an education degree, became addicted to morphine after he was in a car accident. At the time of the offences he had relapsed and was using fentanyl.
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16-15
violence is rarely taken seriously by the courts, and nor are breaches. and violence against women almost comes with a medal of honour.