Fine, restitution for breaking BPS window

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This article was published 20/09/2023 (1089 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who threw a rock into the window of the Brandon Police Service’s major crimes section window two years ago was handed a $500 fine in court on Monday.

Zennon Bighetty pleaded guilty to mischief for throwing a rock through a window at BPS in 2021, which smashed an officer’s laptop. The Crown and defence agreed on a sentence of a fine and restitution order for the incident.

Crown attorney Caroline Lacey read the evidence for the charge in court.

On June 25, 2021, a BPS constable was sitting in the boardroom of the major crimes unit when a rock smashed through the glass window and landed on the table. A laptop, which was sitting on the table, was damaged by the rock.

Officers ran outside immediately, and the constable observed a man sitting at a bus stop across from the police station. When officers questioned the man, who was later identified as Bighetty, he said that he had done something “dumb” and said he had found the rock on the ground.

Both the Crown and defence detailed factors in Bighetty’s life that led to the lawyers reaching an agreement on a fine for rock throwing and a restitution order for about $1,200.

Lacey said that Bighetty grew up in Split Lake with very little contact with his biological father. When he was 10, his mother died from alcohol poisoning. He was then placed in the care of Child and Family Services until he moved at age 19 to Winnipeg, where he managed to hold a job.

The Crown attorney said that Bighetty struggled with methamphetamine use, though he has been clean for two years.

As a result of a not criminally responsible report that was being prepared for other charges that Bighetty had faced, he received a formal diagnosis of schizophrenia, Lacey said.

Bighetty’s defence lawyer, Hayley Allardyce, said that since the schizophrenia diagnosis, her client is now on a medication plan and will be referred to a psychologist once he is released from jail. She also said that Bighetty has been diagnosed with a physical ailment that will now require him to be on medication for life.

The defence lawyer said that the diagnosis meant that her client is getting help that he didn’t previously have access to, and this puts him in a better place than where he was at the time of his offences.

“This is one of those, rare, positive stories that I think the court gets to see,” Allardyce said.

Appearing in court by video from Headingley Correctional Centre, Bighetty apologized for his actions.

Ultimately, after considering Bighetty’s personal circumstances and the nature of the crime, judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta agreed that a fine and restitution order was the appropriate sentence.

Bighetty will have a year to pay a $500 fine and is responsible for a restitution order of $1,212.78 payable to the Brandon Police Service.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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