Offender doesn’t remember stabbing victim
Bradley Anthony Reid, 31, of Fredericton, sentenced to two years in prison going forward for assault that saw fellow drug user sustain single stab wound to chest
A Fredericton man earned a two-year stint in federal prison Thursday for stabbing another man in the chest with a steak knife - a crime he doesn’t remember committing given how high he was at the time.
Bradley Anthony Reid, 31, of Douglas Avenue, appeared in Fredericton provincial court by telephone from jail Thursday for a sentencing hearing.
He was originally charged with aggravated assault, stemming from a stabbing incident the morning of Feb. 21, but he pleaded guilty last month to the lesser included offence of assault causing bodily harm.
Reid also admitted to a related count of violating his probation.
Crown prosecutor Gwynne Hearn said police became involved in the case when officers were dispatched to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital at 5:10 a.m. Feb. 21, where medical staff reported that a male - later identified as Wilbur Elliott - had been dropped off at the emergency room with a single stab wound to the chest.
Hospital staff told police that a dark-coloured Pontiac van had pulled up to the ER entrance, and the unidentified driver ran in calling for help, the prosecutor said.
Inside the ban was Elliott, court heard, and ER workers rushed him inside. The driver - who was never identified - fled the scene.
Elliott wasn’t able to communicate with police immediately, Hearn said, as fentanyl had been administered as part of the treatment for the chest wound.
Eventually, she said, the victim was able to tell officers that he and Reid had been together at a Hillcourt Drive residence on the city’s north side, using drugs, including crystal meth.
Elliott reported he’d left the residence but realized he was missing his cellphone, court heard, and he returned to retrieve it, believing Reid had stolen it.
That led to a tumultuous encounter, Hearn said, as Elliott told police Reid “freaked out.”
“The next thing he knew, he was stabbed,” the prosecutor said.
It wasn’t known who drove the victim to the hospital, but it wasn’t Reid.
‘Honestly, I don’t know’
Police - including members of the emergency response team in full tactical gear - descended on the Hillcourt Drive residence en masse the morning of Feb. 21, given the apparent violence of the offence.
Ultimately, the prosecutor said, police made entry into the residence and found Reid, barely conscious.
He was arrested, court heard, but police took him to hospital as well, given his high level of intoxication due to drugs.
When Judge Natalie LeBlanc asked Reid if he agreed that’s what happened, the offender answered, “Honestly, I don’t know.”
He said he remembers little of the events of that day but accepted that was what had occurred.
Hearn said Reid has a prior criminal history, though most of his convictions are theft-related, with only one prior assault in 2016.
She said the Crown and defence were offering a jointly recommended sentence of 37 ½ months - three years for the assault causing bodily harm, and another 45 days for the probation violation.
After the customary remand credit is applied in Reid’s case, she said, that makes the offender’s sentence going forward two years plus a day, the threshold for a term of incarceration to be served in federal prison.
Defence lawyer Ron Morris said that’s in his client’s best interest, as Reid will be able to avail himself of programs in the federal system that aren’t offered in provincial jail.
“He’s really a non-violent individual,” he said of Reid, noting his past criminal history and this latest crime all have flowed from his substance-abuse issues.
“Drugs are his main problems, his main curse.”
Offender can’t read or write
Reid was sentenced about a year ago to four months in jail, Morris said, and once he was back on the street, he was immersed in his addiction and the drug culture again.
“He was only out three weeks when this happened,” the defence lawyer said.
LeBlanc said she was shocked to see in Reid’s file that he graduated high school despite being unable to read or write.
Morris said Reid has been assessed as having mild retardation, and his learning challenges certainly haven’t helped him.
“I guess social promotion is what happens these days,” he said.
“It doesn’t seem to have served your client well,” the judge said.
The defence lawyer said despite his illiteracy, Reid managed to land a job as a flagger with a private firm, and he loved the work.
But it was after he was jumped on a city walking trail by acquaintances from Fredericton’s drug scene and struck in the head with a baseball bat, Morris said, his client was unable to return to work, undoing some of the progress he’d made.
He noted Reid has been sober since his arrest Feb. 21, and even though he’s been in jail during that time, it’s still noteworthy.
Drugs are just as readily accessible in New Brunswick jails, Morris said, so Reid’s continued sobriety behind bars shows he’s serious about dealing with his addiction issues going forward.
He urged the court to accept the joint recommendation on sentence, noting there was some give and take between the Crown and defence regarding issues with the case.
Morris pointed to the gap in Reid’s memory and his highly intoxicated state when he was arrested, noting his client might have had an automatism defence. A trial was averted through the negotiations between the prosecution and defence, he said.
When LeBlanc asked Reid what he planned to do about his drug issues, he said he wants to get into a rehab program.
“I gotta change my friends,” he said, adding he also needs to find a place to live that’s not in the middle of the drug scene.
LeBlanc urged him to make good use of his time in prison by engaging with programs designed to address substance abuse.
She accepted the joint recommendation. Furthermore, she imposed mandatory orders requiring Reid to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database, and to refrain from possessing firearms and other weapons for life.
Furthermore, the judge ordered that the knife seized by police is to be forfeited to the Crown.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.