Swan Hills resident sentenced for Boyle crime

BARRHEAD - A new Swan Hills resident will be under three months of house arrest due to a break-and-enter in Boyle.

On June 11, Justice Gordon Putnam sentenced Wilfred Richard Perrier to a five-month conditional sentence order (CSO) after he pleaded guilty to housebreaking with intent to commit theft, accepting a joint submission from the Crown and defence. Perrier will also have to give a mandatory DNA sample as part of his sentence and pay a $200 victim fine surcharge.

"Rural crime is a concern for all of us, especially in communities like Swan Hills and Boyle," Putnam said. 

The Crown also withdrew two charges: possession of a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public and possession of a controlled substance.

Facts of the case

Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko said that on Oct. 26, 2023, Boyle RCMP received a call from an absent Athabasca County homeowner saying that his security alarm had been triggered.

"The homeowner told police that no one should be at the residence, and he was watching a live video feed of two males walking around his property," he said.

When police arrived, Sopko said officers spotted a pickup truck roughly 500 metres from the residence.

He said the police then conducted a traffic stop, identifying the two occupants, one being the accused.

Sopko added that the RCMP found several tools in the truck bed, with an estimated value of over $5,000.

He also noted that police detected fresh tire tracks from the vehicle leading to the residence.

"A door to the residence was found damaged and ajar, and footprints and snow were also found inside the residence," Sopko said. "So, essentially, the accused and this other gentleman entered the residence without lawful permission and stole items from inside."

Crown's position

Sopko said the Crown was seeking a five-month conditional sentence with the first three months being house arrest.

The Crown did not stipulate the conditions but stated they were the standard conditions in the 742.1 CSO form.

"Candidly, this is at the low end, but it is in the range [of sentences given]," he said.

Sopko added several factors that influenced his recommendation, including, on the aggravating side, the accused's criminal record.

Sopko said Perrier had been convicted three times, the first being a break-and-enter charge from 1994, followed by a failure to comply, flight, and obstruction in 2007, and another failure to comply, theft, and a firearms conviction in 2023.

The Crown said the early guilty plea is on the mitigating side, adding that the matter had not been set for trial.

"The Crown submits the gravity of the offence is high," he said. "As the court knows, rural break-and-enters is a common offence and is the type that needs to be deterred. People in rural communities are sitting ducks for violence. The Court of Appeal has said over and over again since 1994."

The defence

Born in Fort McMurray, Perrier's lawyer, Traci Overaker, said he is from a broken home, noting his parents split up when he was 15.

She said Perrier has a Grade 12 education and worked on the pipelines for about 25 years in various locations throughout western Canada.

Overaker added that he has an ex-partner in Chilliwack, B.C., with three children, ages 19, 15, and 12. 

"He separated from his partner about five years ago when he moved to Boyle to help care for his mother," she said, adding that, at the time, he was self-employed, collecting and recycling scrap metal."

Overaker said Perrier is of Mi'kmaq descent and is not requesting a Gladue report," she said, adding his father and uncle attended residential schools in Newfoundland. "Mr. Perrier did grow up hearing the stories about the physical abuses they suffered."

A Gladue report is a pre-sentencing report that courts can use when considering the multitude of factors that can lead an Indigenous person to become in conflict with the law. 

Overaker said her client recently moved to Swan Hills after purchasing a house and will soon start work for a scrap metal company.

"Grateful for the opportunity to move forward with his life. Moving to Swan Hills has taken him away from any adverse friendships he made in Boyle," she said.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com