A Prince George man has been sentenced to two years less a day followed by 30 months probation for hitting a neighbour in the forehead with an aluminum crutch.
In issuing the term to Charles MacFarland Williams, 35, Provincial Court Judge Judith Doulis endorsed Crown prosecution's position on sentencing.
Two years less a day is the longest term that can be served in a provincial jail and the probation Williams received is six months short of the maximum. Sentences of two years or greater are served in federal institutions and do not include probation.
Defence counsel argued for either a short jail sentence or a suspended sentence, both with a lengthy period of probation. In doing so, counsel maintained the the victim was left with a "flesh wound" and noted that the victim himself light-heartedly described the resulting scar as a "war wound."
Williams and the victim were neighbours in a fourplex in the 2100 block of Redwood Street. Williams and his partner lived on an upper unit, and had been the subject of complaints over noise late at night.
On the evening of April 21, 2019, Williams and his partner were standing on the balcony having a drink and a cigarette when they got into an argument with the neighbour and his partner as they stood on the grounds below, also having a cigarette.
As tensions escalated, Williams threatened to put the neighbour in a coma. And when Williams was dared to come down and say it to his face, Williams emerged from the front door of his home and whacked the man in the forehead with the crutch.
The hit left the victim with a "serious laceration," Doulis said in her decision, requiring 10 stitches and leaving a 2 1/2-inch scar in the middle of his forehead.
Doulis found that Williams has longstanding anger management issues and has seven convictions for violent criminal offences and that he had consumed alcohol and marijuana at the time of the offence. The judge described the attack as unprovoked and grave.
"The court must send a strong message that society will not tolerate violence of the sort involved in this case," Doulis said.
"A suspended sentence which the defence proposes is unduly lenient and may well cause the victim and this community to lose faith in the criminal justice system," the judge added.
Prior to the sentencing, the longest term Williams had served in a jail was 180 days.
The sentence was issued on February 24.
