Man gets one year in jail for taking part in beating

A man was sentenced to one year in jail for his part in a beating triggered by an argument over music volume that left a man with a broken nose.

Devon Lessard, 32, pleaded guilty to the charge of assault causing bodily harm in Brandon provincial court on Monday.

The Brandon Police Service received a report of a “serious assault” at a home on Queens Crescent on May 13, 2025, court heard.

When police responded, several people had already left the home, but police spoke to a woman who said Lessard and another man had assaulted the victim, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said.

Days after the assault, the victim gave a statement to police, which Mathu read from as she outlined the facts of the case.

The victim acknowledged that he got mad at Lessard for playing his music too loud and yelled at him to turn it down before he kicked his door shut. Lessard and a co-accused then went to the victim’s room, and Lessard “came right at (the victim) and punched him in the face twice,” the Crown said.

He told police the two men punched, kicked and choked the victim and continued to do so when he fell to the ground. Lessard’s co-accused allegedly grabbed a baton and motioned like he was going to hit the victim with it but didn’t, Mathu said.

“(The victim) was pleading with both of the men to stop, at which time one of them started yelling that they were going to tie (him) up,” Mathu said, adding that the men then left.

Court heard the victim sustained a broken nose, a laceration near his right eye, a hematoma on the back of his head and significant swelling to his face.

“He’s quite lucky, given the beating you just heard about, that he didn’t suffer more serious injuries,” Mathu said. “This is all over loud music … Simply turning it down would have diffused the situation immediately.”

She asked the court to sentence Lessard to one year in jail followed by a period of probation. While she said one year is likely less than what the Crown would normally seek for this type of offence, it considered several challenges in the Crown’s case.

Mathu said there was a question of whether the witnesses or the victim would show up to court if the matter were taken to trial.

She said she hoped this was a wake-up call for Lessard, since he will most likely receive a higher sentence if he is back before the court for another violent offence.

Defence lawyer Tony Kavanagh asked for a time-served sentence — the equivalent of 257 days or roughly eight-and-a-half months.

He said Lessard had become “immersed in the use of drugs, and that’s been his downfall.”

He cited Lessard’s criminal record, which has several entries, including drug-related offences, but no violence.

Kavanagh said from Lessard’s perspective, he thought his co-accused did most of the damage, but he has since explained to his client that he was a party to the two-on-one attack, which made it more difficult for the victim to defend himself.

He said Lessard had always planned to plead guilty to the offence but was adamant that he never used a weapon on the victim, which there had previously been discussion about.

“He’s never attacked anybody like this before. He is remorseful. He never wanted to set this down for a trial,” Kavanagh said. “He does want to clean up his life. He’s tired of this rotation through the criminal justice system.”

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said she couldn’t go along with a time-served sentence and sentenced Lessard to one year in custody followed by 18 months of unsupervised probation.

She echoed the Crown’s comments about what will happen if he comes back to court for a violent offence.

“Sentences get longer, not shorter,” she said. “This is the longest sentence that you’ve served … I think you’d be at risk of the penitentiary if you’re back with something like this again. So, you must learn from it and not repeat it.”

» sanderson@brandonsun.com