Skip to content

Court briefs

A road rage incident that left one man with a broken nose left another with a $500 fine. After a brief trial, Robert Hartley, 64, was found guilty of assault. The incident occurred on Dec. 12 outside St. Albert Place on St. Anne Street.

A road rage incident that left one man with a broken nose left another with a $500 fine.

After a brief trial, Robert Hartley, 64, was found guilty of assault.

The incident occurred on Dec. 12 outside St. Albert Place on St. Anne Street. Hartley was driving down the street and believed the car behind him was following too closely for what he described in court as icy conditions.

When Hartley arrived at St. Albert Place, he pulled in front of the building to drop off his wife,

Hartley told the court the vehicle following him then pulled away but because he was angry about the man’s driving, he flashed his lights at the vehicle.

The driver reversed back to where Hartley was and asked him what was wrong. The driver had assumed when he saw Hartley flashing his lights that there was something wrong with his vehicle.

Hartley and the man began arguing and the man got out of his vehicle. Hartley approached him and the judge concluded he head-butted the man, leaving him with the broken nose and a concussion.

When he took the stand, Hartley denied head-butting the man and said he had thought he was going to be hit. He said he saw the other man raise his hands and lowered his head in a defensive move.

Hartley suffered a small mark on the top of his head, which he suggested was an indication that he had been the victim.

Crown prosecutor Jeff Morrison argued, given the extent of the victim’s injuries, Hartley’s story made no sense.

“The version given to us by Mr. Hartley is simply impossible.”

Judge Paul Adilman agreed Hartley’s version was unbelievable and said so directly to the man.

“I have no doubt in my mind that you are not telling the truth.”

Morrison argued that, despite Hartley’s age and lack of criminal record, road rage incidents have to be treated seriously as random acts of violence.

Adilman dismissed that idea as well as suggestions that Harley could be placed on probation and settled on the fine.

He said that simply giving Hartley a record would serve as enough of a deterrent for future bad acts.

A young woman who used two fraudulent cheques worth more than $3,000 was granted a conditional discharge.

Liza Billington pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud. Under the terms of her discharge, she will not have a criminal record if she lives up to its conditions.

Billington walked into the Bank of Montreal on Jan. 29, 2010 with two cheques that had been made out to her from a company called Earthwise Contracting.

She did not work for the company nor did she have the authority to have the cheques, which were fraudulent.

The two cheques were worth $1,297 and $1,765, respectively.

Billington will be on probation for a year as part of the sentence and will have to take any counselling her probation officer directs and make full restitution to the bank.

Billington brought $1,200 with her to court and will make the remainder of the payments over the next year.

A provincial court judge declined to give any more jail time for a theft from a grocery story last week.

Judge John Maher was asked to send Glibert Leamon to jail for as long as 60 days after the man pleaded guilty to a single count of theft.

Crown prosecutor Jon Werbicki had pointed to the man’s lengthy record of similar convictions and previous sentences he had received that ran at least that long as a reason why the man should face two months in jail.

Leamon was arrested on Friday night when a loss prevention officer at a local grocery store spotted him hiding a cooked chicken in his jacket and heading for the door.

The officer remembered Leamon from other occasions and called police, who took him into custody.

Maher didn’t quarrel with Werbicki’s request, but after telling Leamon to seek out help from the food bank next time, he said he wouldn’t send him to jail for any longer.

“I know he has a record, but for the theft of a chicken to feed himself, three days is enough,” said Maher.

Maher subsequently handed down a sentence of time served.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks