A judge in Prince George Provincial Court expressed frustration April 9 that a man in custody missed his arraignment hearing.
Ryan Timothy Chiappe, born in 1978, is accused of pointing a firearm, committing assault with a weapon and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. The offences are alleged to have occurred in January and February of this year.
Judge Michael Brecknell issued a warrant for Chiappe and scheduled his next court appearance for April 16.
“It’s getting to the point that the tail is vigorously wagging the dog, and at some point we have to start putting a stop to it,” Brecknell told Crown and defence lawyers. “If it means that we have to send the sheriffs and or the correctional officers in to do a couple of extractions in a way that's public — so that other people at the institution who have court appearances say, ‘gee, I don't really want to have people pepper-spray me or baton me and drag me out of my cell kicking and screaming’ — maybe we have to start doing that.”
Chiappe is a former professional mixed martial arts fighter who was nicknamed “Ruthless” during his 10-8 career. He was sentenced in 2015 to two years probation for possessing stolen property and 30 days in jail in 2017 for a drug offence.
