A 28-year-old man was sentenced to another nine days in jail and then 18 months on probation after pleading guilty to firearms offences March 17 in Prince George Provincial Court.
Judge Martin Nadon sentenced Wade William Fleury to a total 713 days in jail.
Fleury pleaded guilty to possession of a sawed-off shotgun with readily accessible ammunition, for which Nadon gave him 533 days time served.
Nadon sentenced Fleury to 180 days consecutive for possessing a firearm while under a firearms prohibition, reduced to nine days because of a 171-day time-served credit.
The probation conditions for Fleury include transfer to a residential treatment centre in Savona. Fleury must not be within 10 kilometres of Prince George and is not allowed to own firearms for life.
The court heard that, on Dec. 5, 2023 at 10:49 p.m., RCMP were called to a report of a shotgun fired near the 3000 block of 10th Avenue. The caller described two suspects wearing hoodies who ran toward Highway 97.
At 11:01 p.m., officers found two males matching the caller’s description. An officer put Fleury under arrest for careless use of a firearm. An officer asked Fleury to remove his hands from inside the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie.
When he complied, the butt of a firearm became visible to the officer. The shotgun fell to the ground while he was being handcuffed.
In a statement to police on Dec. 6, 2023, Fleury took full responsibility for the incident. He told police he had been drunk when he shot a single round into the sky. He said that he gave his jacket to another individual who was cold and forgot that the ammunition was inside the jacket.
Nadon also sentenced Fleury to 30 days time served for possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Fleury pleaded guilty to that charge on Nov. 21, 2024, after threatening a security guard at Parkwood Place with a knife on Oct. 2, 2023.
Nadon said the joint Crown and defence sentencing submission made “perfect sense.”
Fleury, who is Indigenous, has suffered head injuries, drug addiction and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
“He has, to his credit, from the very beginning, insisted that he plead guilty on this matter,” Nadon said. “I will say that, with respect to the more serious matter, the possession of the sawed-off shotgun, although the Crown would have had a fairly solid case.”
Nadon said Fleury was to be commended for working with elders and counsellors while in custody, in order to get his life back on track.
“Mr. Fleury, I appreciate that, as you sit there today, right now, all you're thinking about is you'd like to get out of jail, but I can tell you this, that it's now that hard work starts,” Nadon said.
