Violent offender facing more time in custody

By Delon Shurtz on March 16, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.comL

A 23-year-old violent offender who walked away from a residential treatment centre last summer, hopes a judge won’t make him serve several more months in custody.
The offender, who can’t be named because he was only 17 when he sexually assaulted a woman and cut her throat, is facing several more months of custody to make up for the time he was AWOL after he walked away from the Stan Daniels Healing Centre, a 72-bed community residential healing lodge for conditionally released and federally sentenced Indigenous inmates.
The man was convicted in 2018 and sentenced in December of that year to a three-year Intensive Rehabilitative Custodial Supervision order (IRCS) and two years probation on charges of sexual assault, break and enter to commit sexual assault, threats to cause death and unlawful confinement.
During the early morning hours of May 3, 2015, the man entered a southside apartment in Lethbridge where a woman was sleeping on a couch. He began sexually assaulting her before the woman’s stepfather awoke and confronted him. The man dragged her outside at knife point, continued to assault his victim, then cut her throat and fled.
The woman survived the slash, but she and her stepfather died of unrelated causes before the trial began. In previous statements to police, however, the stepfather described the assailant and provided his address. Police searched his home and found a shirt stained with the victim’s DNA
Following his first year in custody, the offender was released to live in a halfway house under community supervision, but he breached conditions of his release order for being under the influence of non-prescribed medication.
He was arrested and returned to custody, but released again to the halfway house before being arrested a second time for failing to follow quarantine rules. He was still in custody when the judge released him last June on a new plan to attend the healing centre.
When the man’s status was set to be reviewed the following November, court was told the accused had walked away from the residential treatment facility and couldn’t be found.
The offender is back in custody – and facing new theft charges out of Calgary – but wants the judge to release him. IRCS officials, however, have recommended he stay in jail until September, followed by 255 days of community supervision to make up for the time he was unlawfully at large.
Lethbridge lawyer Scott Hadford told court his client admits he hasn’t always behaved during his sentence, and there have been breaches, but because he lived with his girlfriend and her young child in Lethbridge while he was missing, and wants to continue living with them, he’s motivated to do better.
“My client desperately wants to be out,” Hadford said.
He said another 196 days in custody will not benefit his client, and he suggested the matter return to court at an earlier date to re-assess his progress and show he can do better.
“Just because there’s been failures, doesn’t mean there haven’t been successes and there hasn’t been a change in his attitude as a whole.”
Crown Prosecutor Lisa Weich said the man is unwilling to comply with court orders, and reminded court that his issues with substance abuse remain the biggest risk factor if he’s released into the community too soon. She said even though he wants to live with his girlfriend, who has a criminal record of her own, officials need time to determine whether that is a suitable option
Weich pointed out that after police learned the offender was living with his girlfriend on Henderson Lake Boulevard South in the city, she refused to let them into her residence, and at first claimed she hadn’t seen him in a long time.
However, on Jan. 12 of this year, police saw him leave the woman’s apartment and he was arrested.
The man told court he knew he had made mistakes and bad choices, but said people need to stop judging him for his past behaviour and give him a chance to show he has changed.
“Look into your heart and see the man I am today,” he urged Judge Gregory Maxwell.
He said if he is released from custody he won’t jeopardize his freedom, and will prove he can do better.
“I can stay out of jail and stay out of trouble.”
Maxwell said he is not prepared to release the offender right away, and suggested adjourning the matter to investigate other options that might be available.
He warned, however, the result may not be to the offender’s benefit.
“There’s going to be a period of custody.”
The matter is scheduled to return to court June 9 for an update and to speak to any recommendations. In the meantime, the man will remain in custody.

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