A Prince George man was sentenced Tuesday to a further three years in prison for a September 2011 rampage that ended with him punching a Crown counsel outside the courthouse, leaving the victim with injuries from which he continues to suffer.
In March, Adrian Real Bergeron, 41, was found guilty of the rare charge of intimidation of a justice system participant for knocking Alex Schmeisser unconscious with what had been described as a "roundhouse" swing.
Bergeron had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault from the attack but contested the intimidation charge. At issue had been whether Bergeron had intended to invoke fear in Schmeisser and so impede his ability to do his job.
During a sentencing hearing Tuesday at the Prince George courthouse, Ravi Hira, a Vancouver-based lawyer specially appointed to prosecute the case, argued for six to eight years less 19 months time already served.
Defence lawyer Terry Laliberte was seeking four years and five months in prison followed by three years probation. He also argued for 29 months credit for time served, based on credit of 1.5 days for each day in custody asserting, in part, that the case could have been concluded sooner and that Bergeron had served a substantial amount of that time in segregation.
As a result, Bergeron would have served a further two years in prison had B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen agreed with Laliberte.
However, Cullen found five years less two years credit was more appropriate and urged Corrections Canada to send Bergeron to one of two facilities in B.C. that has programs for aboriginal offenders.
Schmeisser required extensive surgery and still has plates in the right side of his face from the attack on the morning of Sept. 15, 2011. He requires a special prism in his glasses to counter double vision and suffers headaches if he reads for too long.
Schmeisser, who is now back at work, also testified during the trial that he sometimes must confront a sense of fear while performing his duties as a result of the incident.
Bergeron's rampage began 15 to 20 minutes before the attack on Schmeisser when he got into an argument with another client at a downtown homeless shelter on Sixth near Dominion.
When he refused to calm down, Bergeron was told he was going to be taken out of a long-term housing program for which he had been approved the day before and in response, he struck a manager at the shelter and then smashed most of the building's outside windows with a chair.
Bergeron then made his way to the courthouse, throwing a rock through the window of a police van along the way. When he arrived at the courthouse, Bergeron went into the lobby and started swearing at court registry staff "because they worked for the police." He jumped on the rollout gate separating the registry from the lobby and then tried to use the elevator before the sheriffs arrived.
When Bergeron went outside, he saw Schmeisser as he was walking towards the building, punched him and left him lying in the middle of George Street. He was arrested in a vacant lot a short distance away.
In reaching his sentencing decision, Cullen acknowledged Bergeron's troubled upbringing, his struggle with mental health and addiction issues and ongoing homelessness.
But Cullen also noted that Bergeron's previous times on probation appeared to have not had an impact on his behavour and the seriousness of the offence and injuries his gave Schmeisser, who was in the courtroom for the sentencing.
Bergeron received concurrent terms of six months and three month on the charges of assault from the incident at the homeless shelter and mischief from the other subsequent acts.
