Twenty/20 Club stabbing suspect denied bail
Shawn Patrick Sacobie, 35, faces one count of aggravated assault, two counts of assault with a weapon
An Oromocto First Nation man charged after three people were injured in a knife attack last weekend at a bar in downtown Fredericton protested Friday when a judge denied him bail.
Shawn Patrick Sacobie, 35, appeared via video conference from the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre on Thursday afternoon for a bail hearing.
He’s accused of committing an aggravated assault on Cody Leblanc by wounding and/or disfiguring him, thereby endangering his life; assaulting Jason Ferris and Eric Pryor with a knife; and threatening to cause death and/or bodily harm to Fredericton police Const. Matt Bujold.
The charges arose as a result of a violent incident shortly before closing time at the Twenty/20 Club in downtown Fredericton in the early-morning hours of March 4.
The evidence presented at Thursday’s bail hearing is subject to a ban on publication until the case concludes.
Judge Natalie LeBlanc reserved her decision on bail to Friday morning, and at that time, she found that Sacobie’s continued detention was justified.
The reasons for the judge’s decision are subject to the same publication ban as the evidence at the hearing.
‘Everybody has a bad day’
Sacobie became upset upon learning he wouldn’t be released.
“I was not even in my right state of mind,” he said. “Everybody has a bad day.”
The defendant said he needed to be released from custody so he could provide for his family and take steps to deal with what he’d done wrong.
“You guys are ruining my family’s life right now.” Sacobie said.
“You guys don’t know nothing about jail … You’re setting me up to get in more trouble.”
LeBlanc set the matter over to March 31 for election of mode of trial and pleas, and at the Crown’s request, she also imposed an order barring Sacobie from communicating with the complainants.
The Fredericton Police Force issued a news release March 4 reporting that officers had arrested a suspect at the Regent Street bar earlier that morning.
The police force said officers had responded to the scene at about 1:45 a.m. that day after receiving a report that three people had been stabbed.
“A patron had been asked to leave the premises and subsequently stabbed two staff members and one other patron,” the release said.
“Police arrested an individual on scene without incident.”
All three victims were taken to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital for treatment, the release said, one of them required surgery.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.