Repeat offender jailed for domestic violence
Kyle Brennan McCoy, 35, of Fredericton, has long record with 20 previous assaults, but judge accepts recommendation for lenient sentence given issues with Crown’s case
A Fredericton man who beat a woman in the head repeatedly a year ago saw his stay in jail extended Monday, but the judge was initially reluctant to impose what he viewed as a minimal sentence.
Kyle Brennan McCoy, 35, of Irvine Street, had originally been scheduled to stand trial Sept. 15 on several indictable charges stemming from incidents of intimate-partner violence.
However, he pleaded guilty that day to four of the six charges, and he was back before Judge Scott Brittain in Fredericton provincial court for sentencing Monday.
McCoy appeared by video conference from jail, as he’s serving a six-month sentence for an unrelated property-damage offence out of another jurisdiction in New Brunswick.
The offender had admitted to assaulting Amber Hawkins, damaging her iPhone 14, threatening to kill her and breaching his probation order, all between Dec. 26 and Jan. 5.
Crown prosecutor Jennifer Bueno withdrew related counts of assaulting Hawkins with a samurai sword and assaulting her by choking.
“Ms. Hawkins was hit multiple times in the head,” Bueno said, adding that after McCoy beat her, he threatened to kill her if she reported the abuse to police.
The offender was using drugs at the time of his relationship with the victim, court heard, and he destroyed her new smartphone worth more then $2,000.
The prosecutor said Hawkins reported in her victim-impact statement she now struggles with other relationships in her life and is suffering from the fallout of the trauma.
Bueno said aggravating factors in the case are the fact the crimes represented abuse of an intimate partner, McCoy’s lengthy and related criminal record, and the fact he was on probation at the time of his offences.
However, she noted there are mitigating factors in his favour, such as his guilty pleas, as late in the process as they were, and his expression of remorse.
Bueno and defence lawyer Lindsay Paul offered a joint recommendation on sentence Monday of 11½ months in jail, to run consecutively to the jail term McCoy is already serving but reduced to account for remand time.
That would mean McCoy would have an additional three months behind bars after his current sentence is served.
However, Brittain expressed concern that the recommended jail term was contrary to the principles of sentencing.
He pointed to McCoy’s criminal record, which lists 20 prior assaults, including one in 2019 that led to a stint in federal prison.
“We’re dealing here with a record that is littered with similar offences,” the judge said.
The prosecutor who negotiated the joint recommendation with the defence - Matthew Paik - said it was the result of a lot of back and forth discussions between himself and Paul.
Both he and the defence lawyer acknowledged that the 11½-month jail term was in the lower end of the range of sentences given McCoy’s criminal history but it still was within an acceptable spectrum.
Furthermore, Paik said, McCoy’s last sentence for assault was for seven months in jail, so the recommendation before the court is in keeping with the step principle, directing judges to increase sentences for similar offences as time goes on.
Paul said one of the reasons for the negotiated sentence was that there were issues with the Crown’s case. She said the victim was hesitant to proceed to trial, and there were potential evidentiary issues.
The joint recommendation was the result of compromise on both sides, she said.
Furthermore, Paul said her client’s crimes flow from his drug addiction and some unfortunate trauma of his own from his childhood.
McCoy witnessed domestic violence in his home when he was a kid, she said, and that led to learned behaviour on his part.
The offender was diagnosed some time ago with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but had never been medicated for it until recently, the defence lawyer said, and now he sees a path forward to a productive life and is intent on making real change.
‘Time for some serious soul-searching’
“I just want to apologize to Amber,” McCoy said Monday, noting he’s remorseful for what he did to her and bears her no ill will.
“I just hope she can move forward with her life and heal.”
Paik said similarly, while Hawkins noted in her victim-impact statement she wants no further contact with McCoy, she also expressed her hope he’s able to get the help he needs and turn his life around.
Hawkins was present for Monday’s court proceedings but said nothing.
Brittain said it’s clear from McCoy’s record that he hasn’t gotten the message of deterrence in the past, but he’s encouraged by his apparently sincere comments about wanting to live a clean life going forward.
“It’s time for you to do some serious soul-searching and introspection here,” Brittain told McCoy.
After hearing the additional arguments from the Crown and defence, the judge accepted the joint recommendation.
In addition to the jail term, he imposed a one-year term of probation to follow, during which McCoy is to have no contact with Hawkins, and attend counselling and/or treatment appointments as directed by his probation officer.
The judge also ordered him to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database, prohibited him from possessing firearms and other weapons for 10 years, ordered the forfeiture of the samurai sword seized by police and issued a standalone restitution order for the damaged phone for $2,321, which can be enforced in a civil court proceedings.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.