Judge rejects no contact provision for domestic assault convictions

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on September 29, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge judge has rejected a recommendation that a man who repeatedly assaulted his girlfriend should not be allowed to contact the woman or communicate with her in any way.

During a sentencing hearing Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court for 35-year-old Morgan Daniel, the Crown recommended that Morgan be placed on probation and not have any contact with his girlfriend. However, Judge Kristin Ailsby disagreed after the woman said she wants to continue living with her boyfriend.

“I would like to try it again,” she told the judge.

Morgan, who appeared in court by CCTV from the Lethbridge Correctional Centre, pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, mischief and breaching release conditions, and was sentenced to four months in jail, for which he was given full credit for time served, completing his sentence. The Crown also recommended a period of probation, during which Morgan would not be allowed to contact his girlfriend.

Lethbridge lawyer Claudia Connolly agreed with the jail sentence, but not probation, and said her client has done some growing up.

“I’ve noticed a change in him over the last period of time,” Connolly said. “Dan was always pretty high strung and somewhat volatile and got upset easily, but I’m noticing when I’m in my discussions with him now, he seems to be much more self aware. He seems to kind of get why these things happen and what his role is.”

Court was told Morgan had been released from jail March 25, and almost immediately began assaulting his girlfriend, which continued for several months.

“Those assaults begin on March 27 and continue through…the third of May, the 9th of May, and then ultimately through to the first and second of July,” Crown Prosecutor James Rouleau said.

Rouleau said the assaults “predominantly” comprised slapping, pushing and shoving, and were generally on the lower end of the assault spectrum. The Crown is concerned, however, because the assaults occurred in a domestic relationship.

The woman didn’t require any hospital care, but when police responded to a complaint by the woman in May, they noticed some signs of assault. They also learned that during one of the assaults Morgan intentionally broke his girlfriend’s cellphone, resulting in the mischief charge.

Morgan was detained and released on conditions that he not possess any weapons, but he was in trouble again less than two months later after a neighbour called police on July 2 to report a domestic assault. During an argument the previous day Morgan slapped his girlfriend causing her to have a swollen lip, then slapped her again the following morning, causing her to have a bloody nose.

When police arrested him, they found him in possession of a knife, brass knuckles and a small amount of methamphetamine.

The Crown pointed out Morgan has a lengthy criminal record, which begins in 2006 and includes charges for assault, obstructing a peace officer, assaulting a peace officer, aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon, possession of a prohibited weapon, drug possession for the purpose of trafficking and criminal harassment.

Despite his record and recent assaults, his girlfriend, who attended court in person, said she still wants to be with her boyfriend.

“I think that in the beginning, from the March stuff, that him and I just got off on the wrong foot and there were a lot of miscommunications, and I was not really an innocent victim in the whole situation,” she told court.

She said she participated in a victim awareness program, and learned she may have had a larger role in the abuse than she first believed.

“I recognized that a lot of the things were my fault.”

Although Ailsby accepted the joint recommendation for jail, she did not order probation given the victim’s submissions in court.

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