House arrest for injuring woman in assault

A Brandon man who pushed a 59-year-old woman to the ground, resulting in her suffering a broken hip and a gash to her head, was sentenced to one year of house arrest on Monday after spending almost nine months in jail.

Charles Cook, 36, pleaded guilty in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench to assault causing bodily harm on the day of his trial.

Cook was initially charged with aggravated assault, but the Crown and defence came to an agreement and proceeded to sentencing for assault causing bodily harm.

Crown attorney Yaso Mathu and defence lawyer Bob Harrison jointly recommended that the court note the time in custody Cook has to his credit, which is just under nine months, and impose a one-year conditional sentence — house arrest.

They recommended the sentence be followed by nine months of probation.

Mathu read the facts to the court.

On July 2, 2022, police were sent to an address on Sixth Street after receiving a report of a disturbance and assault.

While police were on their way, they received a second call. The caller said a woman had been “beaten up” in the back lane of Fourth Street and required an ambulance.

Police arrived on scene and saw a group of people, who pointed out a man. The man was highly intoxicated and approached police. He identified himself as Charles Cook.

Police also saw a man and woman with visible injuries.

“(A woman) was holding a bloody towel to the back of her head, a wet puddle of blood was observed on the asphalt near where (she) had been seated in a lawn chair,” Mathu said.

She was transported to the hospital and gave a statement to police.

The victim told police she and her common-law partner were drinking in their apartment, which is the same apartment building Cook’s mother lived in at the time.

The victim’s partner left the group “to go get some beer,” but when he didn’t return, the victim found him with a group of people in a back alley.

The couple sat and had a drink with the group of people, and when they decided to leave, the victim’s partner wanted to take his case of beer, but Cook wanted to take it from him.

Cook allegedly started assaulting the man, and the victim tried to intervene.

“She verbally tried to stop the assault because the other people in the group weren’t doing anything to help, and that’s when Mr. Cook came, and he pushed her and slammed her into the asphalt,” Mathu said.

The woman told police she landed on her right side, hitting her head on the ground, which caused a laceration to the back of her head.

“She required stitches to her head, and she ended up fracturing her hip. She spent 15 days in the hospital, and she suffered greatly as a result of this incident,” Mathu said.

She said the woman lost her part-time job and “fell into anxiety.”

“What should have been … a good interaction, in terms of people having fun together on an afternoon in the summer, having drinks, turned violent.”

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison said his client is certainly in a different place today than he was at the time of the offence.

Cook was drunk and also using either cocaine or methamphetamine, Harrison said, but Cook hasn’t had drug or alcohol issues for “quite some time now.”

“His memory is bits and pieces, but it was enough for him to accept responsibility for his charges,” Harrison said.

He said he has carried a lot of remorse since the offence.

Justice Elliot Leven imposed the joint recommendation and told Cook to stay away from drugs and alcohol and continue his life as a law-abiding citizen.

His conditional sentence includes a curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., that he reside at a certain address and that he not contact the victim or her partner.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com