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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-01-26, Page 19Mon. - Fri. 7-6:30; Sat. 8-6:30, Sunday Closed gaitii-ht-Sang Cancett Blyth Memorial Hall Friday, February 3 at 8 pm Tickets $10 (advance) $12 (door) $30 (family) Outlet Luann's Country Flowers - Eilyth gzatuning LTAe Sannettiwitga, giewd garlitv .Me gAit Main Sponsored by - ABC Women's Ministry Fri & Sat 6:45 & 9:15 Sun - Thur 8:00 "I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT." Roger Ebert. ••••••.... "ONE FILM THAT HAS OSCAR' WRITTEN ALL OVER IT." --APIMUnia walk the line www.movielinks.ca long distance71 -800-2 blythInnebellnetce Weit* v lArr'S NOVI • ikaraokoo Contest $$$ StartS Friday' January 2° ENTERTAINMENT LINEUP Sat., Jan. 28th - Hypnotist Paul Anthony Sat., Feb. 4th - Ryan Schneider Band - Modern Rock Valentine's Menu - Sat., Feb. 11th & Tues., Feb. 14th Choose from 3 course or 5 course meals Sat, Feb. 25th - Free Ride - Cover Band • THE BLYTH BLYTH INN ..THE PLACE TO BE • THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2006. PAGE 19. Man guilty of assault waits in jail for sentencing , Judge R.G.E. Hunter had high praise for two witnesses who took the stand to testify against a man accused of assault causing bodily harm in Wingham's provincial court, Jan. 19. Referring to both men as "excellent witnesses", Hunter said, "It is unfortunate that there are not more, people like them in cases like this." The case in question dates back to Sept. 8. The first witness called by attorney for the Crown Perry Hill, was a neighbour of the accused, Paul Gerald Martin of Wroxeter. He testified that he had been awakened around midnight by a man yelling and a woman screaming. The witness stated he couldn't hear was was being said, but felt he should investigate because of the "nature of the screams. It sounded like someone was being beaten or something tragic was happening." The man stated that as he neared Martin's property, some 25 yards back, he saw the victim face down in the "man door" of Martin's shop with him kneeling over her. He said the victim was crying. "I was shocked when I saw what was going on." He said that he called out to the woman and asked her if she was alright. "They both looked at me. (Martin) zipped back into the shop and she ran towards her own house (which is in the vicinity)." At this point, he said, he could see that she had blood on her face and clothes. He said he returned to his home to call police, then came back outside to await their arrival. While he was talking to police the victim who had returned in the meantime, came out of the accused's residence. She had A Clinton woman was sentenced to house arrest after the presentation of a pre-sentence report in Wingham's provincial court, Jan. 19, The report prepared for Beth Clarke who pled guilty in November to trafficking cocaine, showed a woman who has taken significant steps to turn her life around. Attorney for the Crown Perry Hill said that Clarke and a male co- accused had a meeting with an individual, who turned out to be an RCMP undercover agent, Feb. 22 to sell him a quantity of cocaine. According to the evidence given by Hill, the accused took part in weighing the cocaine, pouring it into a bag, handing it to the officer and taking the $260 for 8.5 grams of cocaine. The analysis of the drug showed it to be 93 per cent pure. Federal Crown Mike Donnelly said that a joint submission had been reached for a conditional sentence of nine months. This was after involvement with both the RCMP and OPP who felt that Clarke had done everything she could to extricate herself from the people she had been involved with. Defence counsel noted that the accused stayed at a women's shelter for six weeks and has received counselling. He described her past as one characterized by negative relationships with men, and said that since this incident she has become very involved in church and community. "She is in the process of turning her life around and I believe she is doing a good job of that." Hunter sentenced her to nine months conditional. She must be in her residence at all times except to report to the probation officer, for any reason given by the probation officer, for medical purposes or from noon until 3 p.m. Saturday for shopping. She must reside in premises recommended by the probation officer and receive counselling. Following her sentence Clarke will changed her clothes and her face was "all cleaned up", he said. "I spoke to her and she seemed more concerned with Paul than with herself. She just said, 'I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine' and brushed me off." Defence counsel Quinn Ross questioned the witness on his history with Martin. "I suggest there had been a problem with noise in the past, it had disturbed you. Had you had enough?" "I would say," the witness answered. "So your intention was to call the police no matter what was going on?" "I wouldn't say that." Ross wondered if the blood could have been mud and questioned whether the witness could see when it was so dark. "I know the difference between mud and blood and when I spoke to her, when she ran out towards me I did get a clear look." The Crown's second witness was another neighbour, who lived upstairs in the building next door to Martin. He also said he had been awakened around midnight by yelling. Looking out the window he said he saw the victim in a car with the door open and Martin standing outside. He testified that Martin was calling the victim names and "hit her two or three times". The accused, he stated, then pulled the victim out of the car. "He was still yelling at her. He wanted to know where she'd been, why she hadn't called. She was saying she didn't have a phone." According to the witness, the accused hit the victim again. He noted that he was certain some of the blows caught her in the face. He also serve 18 months probation. She is prohibited from owning weapons for 10 years. OVER 80 An RR2, Blyth man pled guilty to driving with over 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. Peter John Hoonard was arrested in Blyth Aug. 6. According to Hill the accused had stopped at the scene of an accident. While speaking to him, the officer noted an odour of alcohol and other signs of impairment. He also admitted to having something to drink, said Hill. Breathalizer readings were 140 and 130 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. The accused has no record. He was fined $750 and his licence has been suspended for one year. He was given six months to pay the fine. DRUNK DRIVING Steven John Collinson of St. Thomas pled guilty to driving with over 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. Hill said two officers stopped Collinson in Wingham for a Highway Traffic Act offence. Noting signs of impairment they requested the driver take a roadside test, which he failed. The breathalizer readings taken later were 112 and 102 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. He was fined $600 which he was given eight months to pay. His licence has been suspended for 12 months. PROBATION A Guelph man was placed on Continued on page 20 The Brubachers of Ethel Restaurant & Bakery testified that the victim was kicked by the accused two or three times before he walked away, still hollering accusations at her. The witness said he assumed the victim would leave at this point, but she didn't. "He walked back towards her and hit her again and that's when she fell to the ground. He grabbed her by the top and started dragging her to the front of the garage. She was saying his name, pleading for him to stop. That's when I went to call 911." "If anyone had been driving by they would have swore she was being raped." Ross wondered if it wasn't possible that the accused was helping her out of the car rather than hitting her. He also questioned whether the couple's fighting had bothered the witness on previous occasions. "At different times," he answered. Const. Dana Stecho testified that she had responded to a call around midnight that night. She said at the victim's residence she observed two little -pools of blood at the side door and more on the grass. As the victim wasn't home, they went looking for her. Checking her vehiclein front of Martin's shop, they found blood inside and approximately 12 metres up from the vehicle outside. When they met up with the victim Stecho said her nose appeared to be deformed and puffy. "It was obviously very swollen and not the proper shape." She also said she noticed a scrape on the victim's arm. "I told her we were there to help her and she asked us to leave." The first defence witness was a friend of the accused. He said that he and the victim had gone to pick up beer and bring it back to Martin's. However, they stopped off at a bar to celebrate her birthday. He stated that the victim was quite drunk and when they got back to Wroxeter, Martin's doors were locked. The victim, he said, tried to get in the back way, over a fence and afterwards "looked as if she'd taken a tumble." He said that Martin came out of the house and - there was an argument when he tried to take the keys away from the victim. "She was screaming and yelling 'a bit." Under cross examination, the witness admitted that he had left about 10:30 p.m. for Barrie, so didn't know what might have happened after. Hill wondered if Martin wasn't perhaps upset that she and the witness had been in the bar together for an hour. "I would hope not," said the witness. The accused testified that he had gone to bed when the pair didn't return and that the victim had often come in the back way. He explained the injuries as being the result of a fall. Hill pressured Martin to admit that he was angry the pair hadn't come straight back with the beer. Martin said he wasn't but may have yelled at her and called her names. "Do you normally yell and scream even when you're not upset?" asked Hill. "Yes, you can ask anyone on the main street of Wroxeter." Hill then asked the accused to explain the motive for the two Crown witnesses. "Are you telling us they - have walked deliberately into this courtroom and told us one huge pack of lies:' Asked about the name calling and why he would do this if not angry, Martin responded, "You should hear what I call some of the vehicles I work on." Hill also wondered why if the defense witness and Martin were such good friends he would let him get in the car to drive but tried to stop the victim. And while Martin could explain away the blood in the parking area as having happened when someone broke a window at his place Aug. 24 in an act of mischief, he had no explanation for the blood in the car or on the victim's doorstep. The victim testified that she and the accused had a volatile relationship and backed up his claim that he was simply trying to keep her from driving. She said she was the one who was angry believing that he was with someone else in his house' when she returned from getting beer. "There's a little tramp in town after Paul so I figured she was there." Hill pointed out that her memory might not be what it should be if she was as drunk as she claimed. Stating that the Crown witnesses were sober he wondered what her explanation was for their testimony. The victim said the first witness "has it in for Paul" while the second "wants to go out with me." "So each has a motive for lying?" countered Hill. "That's right." "The officer," responded the attorney, "and I hope she doesn't have any motives, found blood in the car, beside the car and at your home." The victim said the blood in the car and at her home might have been a result of the scrapes from falling over the fence, while the blood beside the car was from the person who cut themselves breaking the window weeks earlier. In summation, Ross said that the Crown witness had "had enough of the noise and this tumultuous relationship. I believe they embellised their testimony in the hopes of ending their own woes." Ross also stated that the defence had not met the burdens of proof beyond reasonable doubt. Hunter did agree that there was no direct evidence to bodily harm, but convicted Martin on assault. Yet while he had nothing.but praise for the Crown witnesses he was less complimentary of the defence witnesses. Regarding the accused, the judge stated, "I don't think I've heard a worse witness in my 25 years on the bench. He is an unmitigated liar, totally without belief." The victim he said, was there to defend the accused. "The police are out there looking after her well- being and she's telling them to leave." He agreed that while the abrasions may have been caused in a fall, "there is not the slightest doubt in niy mind that the accused was dragging her, punching her. She's defending him, he's a liar and so it she." In asking for the accused's record, Hunter was told by Hill that it is "lengthy. The most disturbing fact is there are five assault convictions, including one causing bodily harm. There is also a recent conviction for sexual interference for which the accused is currently on probation." As a result of the judge's finding in this trial, Martin is also guilty of breaching his probation. Ross asked that sentencing be delayed until the February court so that a pre-sentence report could be' prepared. "Fine, but your client is in custody until then," said Hunter. Woman gets house arrest