ATHABASCA — A local man with severe cognitive conditions will have to keep himself in check after he serves three weeks in jail for threatening his father with an axe, breaking a car window, and failing to complete his required check-ins.
In Athabasca Court of Justice July 22, Justin Clarence Gambler pleaded guilty to one count of failure to comply with court orders and one count of mischief damage under $5,000 as part of a joint submission between defence lawyer Andrew Zebak and Crown prosecutor Matthew Kerr.
One count of threats to cause death or bodily harm was withdrawn as part of the plea deal, and Kerr said due to a lack of information on the incident provided to both the Crown and defence counsel, the remaining charges were at risk of being dropped.
“We’ve put this disposition together because of the seriousness of both files,” he said.
Court heard on May 29 in Calling Lake, Gambler demanded car keys while at his father’s residence. When his father declined, Gambler picked up an axe and threatened to chop him up if he didn’t comply.
Gambler proceeded to throw a rock through the car’s driver window and rode off on his bike without the axe. After Gambler left, his father called the police, who arrived to take his statement and photos of the scene.
On June 27, RCMP arrived at the same address to find Gambler inside. He was tackled and arrested after initially fleeing from police and was found to have one cartridge of ammo on his person when searched.
Both incidences came after a failure to check in with a registration centre by May 24 as part of court orders given on May 14.
“Unfortunately, you’re having difficulties right now with your dad, and I hope that fixes itself” said Justice Joanne Heudes, who accepted the joint submission. “I hope he’s a source of support for you.”
Heudes sentenced Gambler to a combined total of 60 days, 30 days for each offence with a guilty plea. After applying credit for time served, Gambler was left with 22 days to serve and no victim-fine surcharge to pay.
“You have FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder), and I hear it’s got some very severe symptoms on you, and with that comes addictions,” she added. “I understand how this is mitigating; it’s something that you live with, it’s something that you struggle with and it’s part of your everyday.”
“All you can do is be aware of your addictions and the issues you have and try and seek whatever resources you can to help you through with this,” said Heudes.
Personal history
“His criminal record has 13 convictions over 10 years,” said Kerr. Gambler’s record has a three-year gap spanning from 2011 to 2014 but does contain two serious violence convictions and five instances of breaches.
Kerr pointed to Gambler’s guilty plea as a mitigating factor, highlighted triable issues with the Crown’s case, and noted the plea saves police, court, and Crown time and resources.
“The threat and mischief files require the cooperation of Mr. Gambler’s father,” said Kerr. “I’m a little apprehensive that Mr. Gambler’s back in the house a month-ish later, so there’s the spectre of cooperation issues.”
Zebak gave court details about his client’s personal history and cognitive limitations.
“This man is severe FASD and unfortunately it is one of those generational issues that arose through the residential schools experience; there was alcoholism, drug abuse, extreme family violence,” said Zebak.
While in custody, Zebak said his client has been able to access healthcare not as available to him in Calling Lake, a consequence the defence lawyer called a silver lining.
“Most of his criminality relates to the substance abuse issues he’s been struggling with. Because he’s severe FASD, programming doesn’t work, and this is just a reality of the brain injury suffered,” said Zebak.
“All we can do is looking forward, hope good luck to Mr. Gambler, and hope that he can control himself, so situations don’t spin out of control again.”
