Man found with loaded gun sent to prison

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This article was published 22/04/2023 (1112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

During a sentencing on Thursday, a Legal Aid lawyer gave a compassionate defence for his client who was found carrying a rifle in a duffle bag while riding his bike in downtown Brandon.

The Crown and the defence were split on the sentence for the man who had pleaded guilty to charges for possessing a prohibited firearm and obstructing and resisting a police officer dating back to 2021.

The Crown argued for a four-year jail sentence, while defence lawyer, Jonathan Richert — raising issues with the prosecution’s case and delving into his client’s life circumstances — asked the judge to impose a sentence of two years or less.

“Police conducting a traffic stop on an Aboriginal man known to them for riding a bike on a sidewalk,” Richert told the court. “Is this the kind of conduct that we’re hoping our police are engaging in?”

Outlining the evidence, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said that on Nov. 28, 2021, around 8:30 a.m., Brandon police stopped a cyclist riding on the sidewalk in the 100 block of Seventh Street with two duffle bags slung over his shoulders. Police recognized the man to be Barry Mousseau — according to the Crown, Mousseau had previously been warned about riding his bike on the sidewalk.

Police approached Mousseau and informed him that he would be given a ticket, and Mousseau dropped one of the duffle bags to the ground. At the time, Mousseau was on court-ordered conditions to not be in possession of a bicycle without a receipt of ownership.

When police questioned him about the owner of the bike, the authorities found his answers evasive, the Crown said. Police also noted that Mousseau was outside of his curfew and told him that he was going to be placed under arrest.

At that point, Mousseau fled from the officers. Police ran after him, telling him to stop, but Mousseau continued to run, across Rosser Avenue into the back alley between Seventh and Eighth streets. At this point, Mousseau tossed the duffle bag into the entrance of the alley.

The chase continued for a little longer until Mousseau finally stopped and was taken into custody by officers. When police searched the duffle bag, they found a loaded .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle, which was sawed off and fitted with a silencer. Before Mousseau was put in the police cruiser, officers found two baggies containing a small amount of crystal meth.

The only explanation for how Mousseau had come to be in possession of the duffle bag with the rifle offered to the court was his own — that he had found the duffle bag while dumpster diving and looking for food as he was homeless.

Much of the Crown’s argument focused on the danger to the public that the weapon presented along with Mousseau’s lengthy criminal record, which includes five prior convictions for weapons-related offences and several convictions for violent crimes.

“We shudder to think what could have happened if Mr. Mousseau had gotten into an altercation with some other civilian and decided to use this firearm,” Mathu said.

While prosecutors noted that only a small amount of meth was found on Mousseau, Mathu said drugs and firearms are a concerning combination.

“There are so many dangerous possibilities here, your honour, and that’s why this kind of conduct needs to be strongly deterred and denounced,” the Crown attorney said.

The defence, however, argued the court could not sentence Mousseau on speculative actions, rather the court should only sentence Mousseau for what he actually did and not what he might have done.

“And what you’re sentencing Mr. Mousseau for having done here is riding around on a bicycle with a gun in a duffle bag,” Richert said. “That’s it.”

In submissions that Judge Patrick Sullivan described as “thoughtful,” Richert spoke at length about Mousseau’s life experience. The defence lawyer described his client as a “lost soul” and a “textbook example” of intergenerational trauma.

Mousseau never knew his biological father, Richert said, and witnessed both his mother and stepfather — who were residential school survivors — struggle with substance use and domestic violence.

“He’s just lost and adrift in an urban environment, as a middle-aged Aboriginal male with next to no family supports [and] next to no pro social supports,” Richert said, urging the court to consider the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the country’s prisons and jails.

His client held jobs at various points throughout his life but struggled with addictions issues for decades, first trying cannabis and alcohol at 13 years old and crystal meth recently.

“There are people maybe who get to a certain point in life that it has just beaten them down so much, they’ve lost all hope or desire to better themselves, because they don’t see that better world anymore,” Richert said.

The defence lawyer took no issues with the lifetime weapons prohibition sought by the Crown.

Given the opportunity to comment, Mousseau told the court that he thought that if he’d just left the bag alone, it may have fallen into the hands of someone with ill-intent.

In delivering his verdict, Sullivan called the loaded gun in the duffle bag “frightening” and the fact that Mousseau ran from police meant he knew the gun in the duffle bag was illegal.

Ultimately, Sullivan sentenced Mousseau to three years behind bars along with a lifetime firearms prohibition.

Mousseau will receive credit for the 16 months he has already spent in custody.

“It is never an easy day to sentence someone to a lengthy custodial sentence,” Sullivan told Mousseau, encouraging the 38-year-old to take advantage of programming while he is behind bars.

“I genuinely wish you luck.”

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com