Judge gives woman 2nd chance at house arrest

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This article was published 29/02/2024 (944 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon woman who acted as a “straw purchaser” to buy guns for a friend received another shot at serving her sentence on house arrest.

Catherine Richardson, 39, accepted responsibility for breaching the two-year house arrest sentence handed to her last fall. The Crown argued her house arrest sentence should be terminated, while her defence lawyer said she should have the opportunity to return back home to finish her sentence.

Last October, Judge Donovan Dvorak sentenced Richardson, formerly known as Catherine Anderson, after granting her Charter application that the mandatory minimum sentence for transferring firearms would constitute cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

She pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking in 2019 after she purchased firearms on behalf of someone else who could not legally acquire them.

According to the facts of the case, which were written in the motion brief, Richardson had a valid Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) and went to Brandon Home Hardware with a friend, Nicholas Peters, who she knew to not have a PAL.

At the store, Richardson purchased a .308-calibre rifle, a .47-70-calibre rifle, a scope and ammunition. The next day, Richardson went to Brandon Canadian Tire with Peters again and purchased a 12-gauge shotgun.

She then gave the firearms to Peters.

On Aug. 30, 2019, Carberry RCMP responded to a shooting in Cornwallis. Investigation revealed the male victim was shot with a 12-gauge shotgun — the one that Richardson had purchased and transferred to Peters.

A search of Peters’ camper during the investigation revealed five firearms, including the firearms that were transferred from Richardson to her friend.

Peters was charged with firearms offences and Richardson admitted to purchasing the firearms and giving them to Peters. He picked the firearms out and paid Richardson in cash for them. Richardson said she purchased the guns for Peters because he was her friend and he told her that there was a hit out on him.

At the hearing on Tuesday afternoon, Crown attorney Vanessa Gama argued that in January, Brandon police tried multiple times to contact Richardson when she did not present herself at her door. Since being sentenced, Gama said, Richardson had not done any addictions counselling, despite her addiction issues being cited at the October sentencing, and missed appointments with her probation officer.

The prosecutor argued that because house arrest is a jail sentence that is served in the community, the penalty for breaching it should be significant. She said the house-arrest order should be terminated, with Richardson remaining in jail for the remainder of the sentence.

Richardson’s defence lawyer, Jonathan Richert, told the court his client was on pain medication that left her drowsy and she was sleeping in the basement and did not hear the knocking or phone calls.

“I think that considering the relatively low level of non-compliance, if the court accepts Ms. Richardson’s explanation that she had been present (at her home) and just didn’t present herself at the door, this isn’t the worst kind of breach,” the defence lawyer said.

He said Richardson maintained contact with her probation officer and rescheduled appointments as necessary.

Richert argued that the 33 days his client had been in jail since the breach should be the penalty and that she has now seen the consequences of breaching the sentence. He asked the court to allow Richardson to resume the house-arrest sentence but not get credit for the month behind bars.

Judge Dvorak noted the seriousness of Richardson’s firearms offences but said that he would give Richardson an opportunity to try serving her house-arrest sentence again. However, he ordered that she spend a total of 60 days (including her time already spent) in jail before being released back to house arrest.

“If you come back with a second breach,” the judge warned, “what happens is it’s almost guaranteed that you’re going to get terminated and you’ll spend the rest of the time in jail.”

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @geena_mortfield