A Prince George resident was sentenced to nine additional months in jail after stabbing a man who was found dead by police, but revived by a quick-thinking RCMP officer and paramedics.
Patrick John Massettoe, 22, was sentenced to 19 months in jail during a sentencing hearing at the Prince George courthouse on Tuesday after earlier having been found guilty at trial of aggravated assault for an incident that occurred on May 23, 2013.
Massettoe, who had become angry during a night of drinking, stabbed his friend Joseph Morin in the chest and repeatedly came after him with a two-and-a-half-inch folding-blade knife. Morin, who was unarmed and tried to use his jacket to knock the knife out of Massettoe's hand to repel the attack, eventually collapsed and showed no signs of life when police arrived on scene.
"For all intents and purposes that person was dead," provincial court judge Michael Gray said in delivering his ruling.
Const. Jason Dickinson, who was with the Prince George detachment at the time but has since transferred to another northern detachment, was the officer on the scene who provided the initial CPR, which saved Morin's life.
Morin, who also suffered injuries to his arm and head in the attack, recovered from his physical injuries but still suffers from memory loss as a result of the incident, according to the Crown.
"I treat this incident as very, very serious and we're lucky that Mr. Morin is still with us," Gray said.
The Crown had been asking for a jail term of two to three years, while defence lawyer Keith Aartsen argued his client should be released with 10 months time served.
Gray said Massettoe's background in Kwadacha weighed heavily in his sentencing ruling. When Massettoe was a child, his mother killed his father in an alcohol-fueled incident, which resulted in Massettoe living with foster parents and other relatives at times when he was growing up.
The court also heard that Massettoe could suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit disorder and fetal alcohol syndrome.
"This is one of the more forceful set of circumstances that I have encountered," Gray said.
According to the facts read to the court, Massettoe, Morin and Conrad Boya had been drinking together the night of the incident and had been all getting along well. At some point in the evening, Morin and Boya decided that Massettoe should be cut off and they disposed of the remaining alcohol.
Massettoe later became agitated and unpredictable. Eventually he and Boya began to argue and Morin intervened. That's when Massettoe pulled out the knife and stabbed Morin in the chest, causing him to bleed profusely.
Massettoe then continued to come after Morin with the knife in an aggressive manner. Boya soon found a nearby pallet and used the wooden object to hit Massettoe, which caused him to drop the knife and fall to the ground.
Morin then kicked Massettoe before collapsing from his injuries.
Crown counsel said the attack may well have continued had Boya not intervened when he did.
At the time of the incident, Massettoe was living with Susan McCook and her family in Prince George as Massettoe is related to McCook's husband. McCook described Massettoe as someone with great potential, so long as he's able to deal with issues in his life, including problems with alcohol.
"Patrick is not a good drinker," she told the court. "He's not good with alcohol, he's one of us who should stay away from alcohol."
Crown counsel cited the need for denunciation, deterrence, rehabilitation and the protection of the public in a sentencing submission and backed it up with three other stabbing cases that all resulted in jail sentences.
In his submission, Aartsen cited the fact that the stabbing was not premeditated and that in his view the pre-sentence report was favourable to his client as reasons that the 301 days Massettoe had already served in jail should suffice.
He also said a quick release would allow his client to return to Kwadacha and obtain work.
"This is the time of year that work becomes available," he said. "Any additional time your honour imposes would make it more difficult for Mr. Massettoe to find work."
Massettoe had originally been granted bail on May 30 of last year, but found himself back in jail in June for violating terms of his release during a visit to Kwadacha to celebrate the completion of his welding certification. He plead guilty to two counts of breach of undertaking on Tuesday and was given two 30-day jail sentences to be served concurrently with the assault term.
In a brief statement to the court, Massettoe apologized to his victim, who was not present in the courtroom.
"I'd like to say sorry," he said. "It wasn't intentional what I did."
In addition to the jail sentence, Gray imposed three years of probation, a 10-year firearms ban and a DNA order. He waived the victim of crime surcharges on all counts.
