Man pleads guilty to gun charges

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This article was published 31/10/2023 (1062 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon man was given a jail sentence of just over two years after pleading guilty to firearms offences when he was found in a home described to be “rife with firearms” earlier this year.

Terrance James Moar pleaded guilty in provincial court on Monday to possessing a weapon while on an order prohibiting him from doing so, careless possession of a firearm and unauthorized possession of a firearm. He also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a release order to live at a court-ordered address.

Both the Crown and defence agreed on the two-year and one-month jail sentence. Crown attorney Jeannelle Allard read the evidence for the charges in court.

On May 30, 2023, Brandon police attended an address on Stickney Avenue to check for Moar, who had a warrant out for his arrest. The Stickney Avenue address was listed on Moar’s release order. But when police arrived at the home, Moar wasn’t there and the woman who police spoke with told them that Moar had moved out of the home a week earlier.

Less than a week later, on June 4, what began as police conducting an arrest for a warrant led to a host of new charges being laid. On that day, police went to a home on Westaway Bay to locate Moar, who was now wanted for failing to comply with his release order.

The woman who answered the door said that Moar did stay at the home, but wasn’t currently home. She invited police inside to look around themselves.

Once inside, officers located Moar and his girlfriend asleep in a bed in the basement. After he was arrested for his warrant offences, officers saw a .22-calibre rifle with a sawed-off stock lying on the TV stand next to the bed, as well as a .22-calibre bullet beside the bed.

Moar’s defence lawyer, Andrew Synyshyn, told the court that his client had simply been staying at the home, which he said was “rife with firearms.” Moar was charged with a number of other firearms charges, but those were stayed by the Crown because those firearms belonged to somebody else. Moar was taking responsibility for the sawed-off rifle that was in the bedroom, however.

Synyshyn said that Moar, who is originally from Crane River First Nation, is familiar to the court and has a criminal history of weapons and violent offences. However, the defence lawyer said that there were Charter of Rights and Freedoms concerns with the police search and legal challenges to proving Moar’s possession of the firearm, and that his client should be given credit for his guilty plea.

Judge David Ireland said that the sentence recommendation was appropriate in giving Moar credit for a guilty plea while also denouncing firearms offences, which the court takes very seriously.

“Mr. Moar has an unenviable record … having done significant time in custody before and this is a significant sentence being proposed,” the judge said, sentencing Moar to the two years and one month sentence.

After being given credit for time already served, Moar will spend about a year and a half behind bars.

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