‘Getting incarcerated kind of saved me’
Homeless man Anthony Daniel Stewart, 42, repeatedly forced his way into apartment buildings, including one in which a fire broke out while he hid out there
A homeless man with a habit of showing up inside apartment buildings without permission told a court Wednesday that getting remanded earlier this year was a blessing in disguise.
“Getting incarcerated kind of saved me,” Anthony Stewart, 42, told Judge Cameron Gunn on Wednesday.
“I could probably be dead at the rate I was going … I’m not going to go back down that road.”
Stewart appeared by video from jail in Fredericton provincial court on Wednesday for his sentencing hearing.
Crown prosecutor Darlene Blunston said his crimes generally stemmed from being in places he wasn’t wanted and being in the company of someone with whom he was to have no contact.
The first instance, she said, was on Feb. 22, when police were dispatched to the Oak Centre, a shelter at the top of Regent Street.
Stewart and his girlfriend, Haylee Lavigne, were there and had been denied entry, court heard.
Blunston said Stewart smashed the lower window in the facility’s front door to express his displeasure, and he was subject to a court order at the time barring him from having any contact with Lavigne.
The prosecutor said Stewart and Lavigne next ran afoul of police when police responded to an unwanted person at an apartment building at 220 Parkside Dr. The building owner reported a man was wandering through the building, without shoes, she said.
Surveillance video showed the intruder using a pry bar to force the door open to gain entry, court heard.
As police were speaking with the building owner, Blunston said, Stewart walked out of a stairwell, clad in the same red hoodie seen on the video, without shoes, and he was carrying a box.
“He froze when he saw police,” the prosecutor said, adding Stewart said, “Time to go, huh?”
When officers asked who he was, he gave the name Jason Knox, court heard, and he was accompanied by a woman, who was determined to be Lavigne again.
Police checked back in with their communications centre, Blunston said, and a records check indicated the person before them might be Stewart.
“As soon as the accused heard his real name, he dropped the box… and he fled on foot,” she said.
Stewart took off in the direction of Prospect Street, the prosecutor said, and after entering the Days Inn, he managed to lose the pursuing officers.
Blunston said Stewart was found once again in an apartment building, this time on March 16 at 690 Graham Ave.
Police responded to the scene, on the heels of the fire department, after the city received a report of a fire around 5 a.m., court heard previously.
Firefighters extinguished a small fire in a sink in the laundry room, and the police investigation revealed Stewart and Lavigne had used a pair of pliers to gain access to the building.
Surveillance video showed the pair had made their way to the laundry room, likely to take shelter.
Police found Lavigne outside the building, shoeless, as firefighters dealt with the emergency, court heard, but Stewart was gone – but not without a trace.
Officers were able to follow tracks from a roller bag left in the show, and they arrested him at a nearby location.
He was originally charged with break, enter and arson with respect to that incident, but he pleaded guilty earlier to a lesser charge of break, enter and mischief. Again, he was subject to a court order at the time to have no contact with Lavigne, marking another breach..
Finally, Blunston said, Stewart was found in another apartment building, this time at 1039 Regent St. on March 18.
Police were called to remove two unwanted homeless people from the lobby, she said, and they turned out to be Stewart and Lavigne again. The prosecutor said that led to another charge for violating the no-contact order, and Stewart was ultimately remanded after that arrest.
She said the defendant also violated his probation in late 2017 and early 2018 when he failed to report to his probation officer as required.
Blunston and defence lawyer Edward Derrah offered a joint recommendation on sentence: eight months in jail going forward, so after a standard remand credit was applied in the case.
Difficult childhood
Derrah said the joint recommendation was the result of some issues with the Crown’s case.
“The Crown was missing some witnesses,” he said - notably, Lavigne.
“There was a quid pro quo,” Gunn said.
The judge said Stewart’s pre-sentence report shed some light on what contributed to his troubles, and the defence lawyer said his client experienced a troubled upbringing.
“Mr. Stewart’s situation cries out for more counselling,” Gunn said.
The offender apologized for his actions, but added that his time on remand has opened his eyes to his desire to clean up his act and live a productive life.
Gunn said Stewart’s behaviour is a reflection of what he endured earlier in his life.
“We are all a product of our environment and experiences,” the judge said.
“Just because you have a past doesn’t mean you don’t have a future.”
He accepted the joint recommendation on sentence, imposing the request eight-month jail term, as well as 12 months of probation during which Stewart is to participate in counselling as directed and to steer clear of the locations into which he intruded in recent months.
Gunn also ordered him to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database.
“You’ve started down a path where you can be a productive member of society,” the judge told him.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
I liked the judge's comment
" Just because you have a past doesn't mean you don't have a future"