Twenty/20 stabbing nets 42-month prison term
Shawn Patrick Sacobie, 35, of Oromocto, drunkenly slashed at bouncers after he was removed from night club around closing time March 4
While an Oromocto man presented strong prospects for rehabilitation, a judge imposed a 3½-year prison term Thursday for his violent offences, in keeping with the prosecution’s recommendation.
Shawn Patrick Sacobie, 35, of Welamukotuk (Oromocto) First Nation, was back before provincial court Judge Cameron Gunn in custody Thursday to hear the judge’s decision on sentencing.
The offender previously admitted to one count of aggravated assault, two of assault with a weapon and one instance of uttering threats stemming from events outside the Twenty/20 Club in downtown Fredericton in the early-morning hours of March 4.
Highly intoxicated and enraged at being ejected from the club for fighting in the men’s room, Sacobie stabbed bouncer Cody Leblanc in the abdomen with a knife, and cut Jason Ferris and Eric Pryor, who were helping LeBlanc.
The offender also threatened to stab Fredericton police Const. Matt Bujold when officers responded to the scene.
LeBlanc had to undergo surgery to repair the damage, and Ferris’ cut required stitches, court heard.
Sacobie told the court he has no memory of that night’s events, given how drunk he was.
During a sentencing hearing last week, the prosecution asked the court to impose a federal-prison sentence of 42-48 months, reduced to account for remand time, while defence lawyer T.J. Burke suggested 2½ years, less credit for remand time.
Gunn said Thursday the case before him spotlighted perfectly the delicate balancing act judges must perform when sentencing offenders.
He said Sacobie’s actions represented serious, violent crimes that endangered people’s lives, but conversely, the offender clearly has strong potential for rehabilitation and to be a productive member of society, as he had been until he fell off the wagon in recent months.
Court heard last week Sacobie had a terrible upbringing, marked by neglect and abuse. He was surrounded by violence and substance abuse, and he became part of a cycle that perpetuated that behaviour.
Furthermore, the judge said, he had to consider Sacobie’s status as a member of a First Nation community, adding that courts have been directed to recognize “systemic and institutional factors that have led to an overrepresentation of Indigenous offenders in prison.”
Gunn said he believes Sacobie and his counsel when they say he just wants to return to his community to provide for his partner and their family.
However, the defendant presents with a prior criminal history that includes a past aggravated assault, and has done prison time before, he said.
That’s a key aggravating factor for the court to consider, the judge said, as is the extreme violence he exhibited on the night in question.
In imposing the 42-month prison sentence, Gunn noted it’s to be reduced by 188 days to account for the custody 1.5-to-one remand credit formula.
That means Sacobie’s sentence going forward is just a few days shy of three years.
The judge also prohibited him from possessing firearms and other weapons for life following his release from prison, and imposed a DNA order.
He further ordered the knife Sacobie used forfeited to the Crown.
Gunn told Sacobie he believed he’d emerge from prison the same man he was before he fell off the wagon and will resume the more positive and productive path he had pursued previously.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.