One year in jail for man who maced landlord

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This article was published 18/08/2023 (1127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who sprayed his landlord with bear mace last year was sentenced to a year in jail in court on Thursday.

Addison Laroque, 24, pleaded guilty to assault, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and possessing a stolen vehicle. The Crown and defence differed slightly on their suggested sentence for the man. The Crown asked for a year behind bars, while defence asked for 11 months.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read the evidence for the charges in court.

On March 22, 2022, around 11:30 p.m. police received a report from a man who said that he had just been sprayed with bear mace.

When police arrived, the man told officers that he was the landlord of an 8th Street apartment. He told police that he has a policy with his tenants that there are to be no visitors between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

That night, he heard a large group of people going into one of the units. When the landlord knocked on the door of the unit, Laroque opened it.

When the landlord escorted the group, including Laroque out of the apartment building, Laroque turned around sprayed the landlord in the ear with bear mace.

The landlord told police that he felt his ears burn and had difficulty breathing as a result of the mace.

Video surveillance in the hallway of the building confirmed the landlord’s story and enabled police to identify Laroque.

The next month, on April 28, around 4 a.m. police receive a report from a man that his truck had just been stolen. He told police that he had been sleeping in his home on 29th Street when he woke up to the sound of his truck starting.

The man looked out his window and saw his truck being driven away.

The next day, an employee of Extreme Electronics called BPS to report a stolen vehicle that had been sitting in their parking lot since the morning. When police processed the vehicle, they were able to lift fingerprints from the rear mirror which was a positive match for Laroque.

Laroque also pleaded guilty to not reporting to probation and failing to follow a court-ordered condition to live at a certain address.

Kok noted that Laroque has a lengthy criminal record with numerous convictions, including a conviction in 2021 for stealing a vehicle.

The prosecutor also asked that Laroque be placed on a lifetime weapons prohibition in addition to the jail time.

Laroque’s defence lawyer, Bob Harrison asked the judge for one month less behind bars for his client. He said at the time of Laroque’s offending he was homeless. While alcohol and crystal meth were also factors in his client’s crimes, Harrison said that Laroque told him that he hasn’t been able to access programing while in jail at Headingley Correctional Centre, nor get more than two hours of fresh air a day.

Judge Patrick Sullivan said that while Laroque received some credit for taking responsibility and pleading guilty to his charges, he said that the 24-year-old spraying his landlord with bear mace was especially serious.

“I’ll call that behaviour disgusting,” the judge said.

Ultimately, Sullivan sentenced Laroque to a year in jail as well as 18 months of unsupervised probation and a weapons prohibition.

Since Laroque has spent more than 600 days behind bars, his one-year jail sentence will be taken off the time he has already served. However, Laroque will remain behind bars as he has a pending robbery charge.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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