Accused gets 45 days for domestic assault

By Delon Shurtz on September 22, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Assaulting his former girlfriend and breaching a peace bond has earned a southern Alberta man a stint behind bars.

Jeremy John Emmelkamp pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court to the assault and breach charges and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

The Crown explained Emmelkamp had been in a relationship with a woman that was, for a number of years, “rife” with incidents of assault. One of the incidents was dealt with in court in 2021 by way of a two-year peace bond, which required Emmelkamp to inform the police service’s high risk offender unit when he is dating or in a relationship.

On Aug. 20 of this year the same woman contacted police and told them she was being harassed by Emmelkamp through text messages. Police determined after reviewing the text messages that Emmelkamp and the woman were once again involved in an intimate relationship, but Emmelkamp never notified the police.

During her interview with police, the woman told them that about one and a half months earlier Emmelkamp assaulted her when she attempted to leave a residence. He blocked the doorway and repeatedly pushed her into a bedroom, injuring her when her body became pinched between his body and the doorframe as she attempted to leave.

“She sustained some bruising on her left forearm, left elbow; a bruise on her cheek and her right eye, and a cut under her top lip,” Crown Prosecutor Bruce Ainscough said.

Emmelkamp, who has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for assault, was sentenced to 30 days in jail with one year’s probation for the assault and 20 days for breaching his peace bond. He is prohibited from contacting the woman and from being within 100 metres of her residence and, if it applies, her workplace, school and place of worship.

Although the Crown recommended the two jail sentences be served consecutively, Judge F. A. Day accepted a defence request the sentences run concurrently. He rejected the Crown and defence recommendation for a 15-day sentence for the breach, however, and sentenced Emmelkamp to 20 days in jail. Because Emmelkamp has already served the equivalent of 32 days in remand custody, his sentence is concluded.

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