A special prosecutor from out of town has been brought to deal with the case of a Prince George man charged with assaulting a Crown prosecutor outside the courthouse
Vancouver lawyer Ravi Hira was appointed to the matter the province's criminal justice branch said Friday following a spree the morning before that also saw a window at a downtown homeless shelter and the windshield of a police van smashed.
Adrian Real Bergeron, 40, faces one count each of assault, assault causing bodily harm, intimidation of the justice system and two counts of mischief over $5,000 in relation to the incident.
He is in custody and is scheduled to make a first appearance on those charges on Sept. 20.
Special prosecutors are appointed "when there is a significant potential for real or perceived improper influence in the administration of criminal justice," the branch said in a statement.
Assaults on prosecutors are "extremely rare," criminal justice branch spokesman Neil MacKenzie said Friday.
"I've been a prosecutor for over 20 years and I can think of maybe one or two other incidents that I recall and I don' think either one was particularly serious," he said.
"Occasionally, prosecutors are threatened, I think that happens a little more often, but even that doesn't happen all that frequently."
Police were called to the Active Support Against Poverty shelter at Sixth and Dominion at about 8:20 a.m. and caught up with Bergeron about 10 minutes later at the courthouse where sheriffs had apprehended the suspect following the assault in which police say the victim was punched.
Bergeron has a record of assault convictions according to court records.
In March, he was sentenced to 18 months probation with a suspended sentence for two counts of the charge. And, on a separate matter, Bergeron is scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 2 on charges of assault causing bodily harm and breaking and entering a dwelling house to commit a crime from a Dec. 16, 2010 incident.
Police did not release the of the victim of the Thursday morning attack, which sent him to hospital, but sources at the courthouse identified him Alex Schmeisser. Prince George RCMP Cst. Lesley Smith has said police have reason to believe the two are known to each other.
Prince George court registry was unable to determine if Schmeisser was involved in either case, saying it can vary depending on which day the case was in court.
