Weapons offences add seven months to prison sentence

A Sapotaweyak Cree Nation man will serve nearly seven more months in prison after he pleaded guilty to multiple weapons offences on Thursday, including carrying bear spray and brass knuckles.

Christian Cook, 24, entered guilty pleas for charges of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, possessing a prohibited weapon, failing to attend court and three counts of failing to comply with conditions of his probation.

Cook appeared in a Brandon provincial court via telephone from Stony Mountain Institution, where he’s serving a sentence for previous weapons offences.

“His record demonstrates a continuous and escalating pattern from the Crown’s perspective, particularly involving weapons and a disregard for court authority,” Crown attorney Nikki Boggs said.

She said a custodial sentence would be appropriate to reflect the seriousness of his new charges and hopefully deter him from reoffending in the future.

Court heard that Brandon police officers were patrolling in the 700 block of Princess Avenue on Oct. 22 last year when they saw Cook — who was known to police — walking east.

Cook had an outstanding warrant and was arrested. When police searched him, officers found he was in possession of a full can of bear spray and his wallet contained brass knuckles, Boggs said.

Police also noted he had an order not to possess any weapons.

Cook was released from custody on Oct. 30 on several conditions, including a strict 24-7 curfew that had few exceptions.

On Jan. 31, his partner, who was also his surety, called police to report that Cook had not returned home from a permitted outing between noon and 3 p.m., Boggs said.

The woman said she saw him briefly speak to someone at the door before leaving their residence.

“She tells police that she made multiple attempts to contact him via his phone,” Boggs said.

“Of course, she’s concerned because she’s a surety and wants to ensure that she’s following all of her obligations.”

Boggs said Cook failed to attend his court sentencing for his previous offences on Feb. 3 and was arrested in Shoal Lake on an outstanding warrant in May.

“Mr. Cook needs to understand if he’s before the courts again with respect to weapons offences, he should expect a very lengthy custodial sentence,” Boggs said.

She suggested Cook be sentenced to six months for possessing bear spray for a dangerous purpose plus 30 additional days for failing to attend court. She also recommended he serve a 12-month sentence concurrently for his remaining charges.

Jennifer Janssens, his defence lawyer, said Cook was abiding by his curfew between October and February with the support of his partner, who lived with him in Brandon with two children.

“During that time, he had really his only period of stability and sobriety,” she said.

“It’s very unfortunate that he threw that away at the end of January.”

Janssens said Cook relapsed on Jan. 31 when someone came to his door and offered him drugs. He left his home with them and didn’t return because he knew his partner wouldn’t welcome him back after using substances, she said.

Cook’s childhood upbringing included parental neglect as his parents struggled with addictions, were transient and were absent from his life at times. He was physically abused by his caregivers, witnessed domestic abuse between his parents and started drinking and using drugs at a young age, she said.

“I think that instilled in Mr. Cook a sense of having to protect himself,” Janssens said, adding that he started carrying weapons as a result.

“And I think there’s really some thinking errors here in terms of him believing those things are necessary for his own safety because of the lifestyle he’s been in and because of what was modelled for him when he was a young person.”

Although Cook didn’t use the bear spray or brass knuckles to cause any harm in October, he shouldn’t have had those items, his defence said.

Since being in prison, Cook has been developing a plan to get his life on track by showing interest in programs to help him heal, Janssens said.

She suggested he receive a four-month concurrent sentence for his three weapons offences to be served consecutively with his current prison time, along with 20 days for failing to attend court and 10 days for breaching his curfew.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said she was mindful of his upbringing as she delivered Cook’s 195-day sentence to be served on top of his current sentence.

“Brass knuckles are serious,” she said.

“There’s just absolutely no utility or good reason for a person to ever have that type of item.”

» tadamski@brandonsun.com