CORNER BROOK, N.L. — A man who was holding a knife when he opened the door for police intending to arrest him has been sent to prison for two months.
Jeremy Simon, 59 recently entered a guilty plea to resisting arrest and had a charge of assault withdrawn by the Crown during an appearance at provincial court in Stephenville.
Judge Wayne Gorman was told two RCMP officers went to investigate a complaint that Simon had assaulted a woman, but he ran into his house and locked the door when police tried to talk to him.
After the police told Simon they would go get an arrest warrant, he opened the door with a knife in his hand. An officer knocked it out of his hand and Simon ran back into the house.
He was eventually arrested, but not without some resistance. The judge was told Simon continued to resist his arrest after being handcuffed and brought to the police station.
The Crown and defence both asked for house arrest, though the Crown requested 60 days and the defence suggested 30.
Gorman agreed with 60 days, but ordered Simon to serve them in prison. Gorman said the offence was too serious to warrant a conditional sentence and that two previous sentences of house arrest for seemed to have done little to deter Simon from offending again.
Simon’s eight previous convictions include assault with a weapon, uttering threats and multiple breaches of court orders.
Gorman said Simon had time to contemplate the seriousness of obtaining the knife and the threat it signified to the officers. He concluded Simon constitutes a danger to the public.
In addition to jail time, Simon will be placed on probation for a year after his release and subject to a weapons prohibition for five years.
