A hockey player who assaulted his teammate by punching him in the head will serve only four months of probation due to the coronavirus and the fact he starts college in September.
The 18-year-old — who was 17 at the time of the offence and thus cannot be named — appeared in Moose Jaw provincial court recently, where he pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm.
As part of a joint submission, he was given a conditional discharge and put on probation for four months; will have to keep the peace and be of good behaviour; report to a probation officer by phone; take anger management courses; have no contact with the victim, not be within five metres of the victim or 50 metres of his home, work or school; complete 40 hours of community service; and provide a DNA sample.
The teammate went to the Craik RCMP on Dec. 13, 2019, to report that he had been assaulted during the intermission of a hockey game in Davidson that evening, explained Crown prosecutor Stephen Yusuff. The 18-year-old had punched his teammate in the head and given him a concussion.
“It is unusual in the circumstances to request four months of probation, especially since this is a serious assault,” Yusuff said. “But the accused is starting school in the United States in four months, so he wants to ensure his education in the U.S. is not impeded. He has no criminal record and a conditional discharge does not impede his ability to travel.”
The teen recently lost his mother to an illness and is dealing with that emotional stress, his defence lawyer told Judge Brian Henderickson. His coach advised that he is a well-respected leader in the locker room and one of the team’s co-captains. He received no suspensions while playing, acquired few penalty minutes and was one of the leading scorers on the midget AA team.
The victim was using his phone during an intermission and was asked several times to get off it but failed to do so, the defence lawyer continued. The teen asked his teammate one more time to put the phone down, but when that didn’t happen, a confrontation happened and he struck his teammate.
“It wasn’t … out of the blue and there were definitely some words exchanged between the parties,” the lawyer said, adding the teen has been accepted to college in Texas on a full scholarship for rodeo.
“I want to apologize for what I did,” the teen said. “I thought I was sticking up for my teammates. I got mad.”
The judge accepted the joint submission, saying the sentence is permitted under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Hendrickson thought the sentence should be the least restrictive as possible in the current circumstances. He noted the teen has no prior record, accepted responsibility, and is preparing for school in the U.S. and did not want to create roadblocks for that.
However, Hendrickson pointed out assault causing bodily harm is a serious offence and “more than a trifle,” especially since the teammate received a concussion. While the teen wanted to get his teammate’s attention, that was not the way to do it — legal or otherwise.
While Moose Jaw provincial court is still operational, all non-serious matters have been adjourned to the first week of June.
