Man gets 11 months for groping security guard

A man was sentenced to 11 months of time already served for groping a stranger’s testicles in downtown Brandon.

Garfield Chartrand, 49, pleaded guilty to a single count of assault in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday. He was initially charged with sexual assault and the matter was going to trial, but the Crown agreed to accept his plea to the lesser offence.

The Crown recommended a sentence of 11 months of time served, while defence asked for a shorter sentence of six months to appear on his record. Chartrand has the equivalent of 351 days in custody to his credit.

Crown attorney Nikki Boggs detailed the facts of the offence.

On Aug. 6, 2024, a man reported an incident that had just taken place while he was working as a commissionaire providing security at the Government of Canada building in Brandon. Police arrived, and the man gave a statement.

He told police he was doing foot patrol around the perimeter of the building when a vehicle pulled up near him. Two men got out of the vehicle, and one of them appeared to be intoxicated.

“He’s holding a two-litre bottle of beer, stumbling around and slurring his words,” Boggs said.

The intoxicated man asked the victim if he had a cigarette. The victim said he did and gave the man one.

“It’s at this point that this one particular individual reached down and groped (the victim’s) testicles in a cupping motion,” the Crown said.

The victim backed up and went inside the federal building and watched the men walk into the courthouse.

He was able to take a photo of the man who groped him and showed it to the police officer, who immediately identified him as Garfield Chartrand through previous interactions.

Police found Chartrand sitting on the steps outside of the courthouse and arrested him.

Boggs said while Chartrand didn’t plead guilty to the charge of sexual assault, the body part he touched should be factored into the final sentence the court imposes.

“(It) might not be physically harmful for (the victim), but we definitely have to take into account the body part and the psychological impact that that might have on someone,” Boggs said.

She said the victim was just doing his job and was trying to be friendly by giving Chartrand a cigarette.

The Crown recognized that while the victim was willing to testify in court, Chartrand’s guilty plea spared him from having to come and talk about what happened that day.

Defence lawyer Philip Sieklicki said Chartrand “deeply regrets the incident that brought him before the court” and outlined some of his personal circumstances.

He said Chartrand hails from a First Nations community in Saskatchewan and was raised to a large extent by his grandparents.

Sieklicki said Chartrand and his parents went to day school, several family members were a part of the ’60s Scoop and all his grandparents attended residential school.

“He informed me that he suffered from a lot of trauma in his life,” Sieklicki said, adding that Chartrand told him he had been hit with an axe, stabbed in the back and shot at.

He said Chartrand was intoxicated at the time of the offence, and alcohol was “no doubt” a significant contributing factor.

“Chartrand acknowledges an alcohol addiction issue … He acknowledges this has played a significant part in his life,” he said. “He wants to overcome it. He tells me that he plans to stay away from alcohol in the future.”

He also pointed out that it was a “very quick incident,” which happened in broad daylight and the touching was over the clothes.

Given all of the circumstances, Sieklicki said a shorter sentence of six months would be appropriate.

When given a chance to speak, Chartrand apologized.

Justice Elliot Leven said that while the court was dealing with an assault and not a sexual assault, “it was perhaps more troublesome than, say, a slap on the shoulder.”

He sentenced Chartrand to 11 months of time already served, followed by 18 months of unsupervised probation.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com