MOOSE JAW - Cameron Dayne St. Laurent is pleased that he will spend the next two years in a federal jail because he will have access to programming to help him quit his drug addiction.
That addiction to meth — which he began using to numb his pain over the deaths of several relatives — is what caused him to attack his mother, assault a stranger, damage the siding of a home and squat in an abandoned building, Moose Jaw Provincial Court heard recently.
St. Laurent illegally entered his mother’s home on June 10 by opening the back door using a key he had taken without permission, where he encountered the woman and began fighting with her, explained Crown prosecutor Rob Parker.
The 38-year-old knocked a phone out of his mother’s hand that she was using to call police and then pushed her to the floor, where she hit her head on a fireplace, the Crown continued.
St. Laurent then wrapped his arm around his mother, but she freed herself and fell and lost her glasses and phone. He grabbed her again and pushed her out the front door, where she yelled at a neighbour to call police.
The man then left, but not before taking $10 worth of lottery tickets and his mother’s phone.
Parker summarized St. Laurent’s other offences, including one incident in June where the man took a rock and damaged the siding of a home on Caribou Street West and a second incident where he illegally entered a vacant home on Fairford Street East and squatted in it because he was homeless.
A third incident last December saw St. Laurent have a verbal disagreement with an 81-year-old man at Riverside Mission during breakfast and then shove the senior to the ground, injuring him.
St. Laurent had been on remand for 48 days when he appeared by video in court, so as part of a joint submission, the Crown credited him with 72 days served. Moreover, for every crime but the home invasion and assault, those 72 days counted as time served.
However, for the home invasion and attack, he was given two years in a federal prison.
He must also provide a DNA sample and is prohibited from owning or using weapons for 10 years.
As part of the joint submission, St. Laurent pleaded guilty to failing to attend court, assaulting the senior, mischief over $5,000, breaking and entering, and attacking his mother.
The Crown stayed several other charges.
“He is extremely remorseful. He is showing his remorse with these pleas,” said Legal Aid lawyer Merv Shaw.
All these incidents occurred because St. Laurent’s life was collapsing around him, as he experienced the deaths of several family members, which caused him to sink about as low as one can in life, the lawyer continued. This is when he began using meth to cope.
“His actions suggest someone who is on meth and not in his right mind,” Shaw noted, adding St. Laurent asked to be sent to a federal penitentiary because it has more resources to help him recover.
Judge Brian Hendrickson accepted the joint submission, saying it was appropriate and within the range for a home invasion.
“… a home invasion is aggravating. You broke into your mother’s home. You assaulted her,” the judge remarked. “A person is allowed to be safe in their own home.”
Hendrickson also agreed to waive the victim fine surcharge.
