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May 29, 2017 - 6:30 PM
CONTENT ADVISORY
PENTICTON - A Keremeos man’s methamphetamine-fuelled behaviour has put him behind bars.
Matthew Alan Glada, 36, pleaded guilty today, May 29, in Penticton court to three counts of assault against his girlfriend and one count of possession of stolen property under $5,000.
Crown prosecutor Ann Lerchs told court Glada was caught by Penticton RCMP on Oct. 31, 2016 with tire rims taken from the storage compound of Excel Tire in Penticton. Police were called to the scene after a neighbouring business owner reported seeing two men loading rims into a truck. Officers located the truck and the two men, one of whom was Glada, on Green Mountain Road, where he was arrested.
Glada’s assault charges are in connection to a March 28 incident in Summerland, when he showed up at his girlfriend’s house on a methamphetamine high, not having slept for 72 hours.
A conversation turned abusive after Glada attacked her from behind, pushing her to the floor and pushing her head into the wall, Lerchs said. His girlfriend was left with a bruised left knee and a bruise on the side of her face. A second man in the residence broke up the altercation and drove Glada to Keremeos.
The prosecutor says Glada showed up at his girlfriend’s Summerland residence the following day, when she let him in under the promise he would sober up and stay off drugs.
Lerchs said Gladu remained in the residence for a couple days until March 31, when police where called to a domestic assault. Glada’s girlfriend told police her boyfriend had “just kicked the shit out of her” and was taking off.
Police arrived, to find the woman visibly shaken. In a statement taken by police, she said she had become frustrated with Glada for sleeping for two days. They got into an argument and she told him to pack his things and leave.
Glada pushed her to the ground and pinned her head against the wall, applying pressure to her face and skull while pushing down. The pushing and shoving continued until the woman was able to lock herself in the bathroom and call police.
The third assault took place at a camping area near Sooke, B.C., on April 15. Police were called after Glada’s girlfriend asked a nearby resident to call police after Glada pushed her out of a makeshift tent the two were sleeping in. She told police Glada was a drug user and there had been violence between the two before.
Lerchs said police noted it appeared Glada’s girlfriend was undergoing symptoms of withdrawal at the time.
Glada turned himself into police and he’s been in jail since.
Lerchs recommended a 150 day jail term and 12 months probation to Judge Mark Takahashi, noting Glada’s prior record of eight property theft files and three assaults.
Defence lawyer Kathryn Lundman asked for an intermittent jail term for her client. She said he had been in a long term relationship with the woman assaulted, and if allowed to serve an intermittent sentence he could find work right away.
Glada said he’d been sober since the assault in Sooke, where he and his girlfriend had gone to get off drugs in the first place.
“I care deeply about her, I just want her to get help,” Glada told the court, adding he was letting the relationship go to focus on his daughter.
Judge Takahashi agreed to a 150 day sentence, the remainder to be served intermittently.
With credit for time served, Glada has 69 days jail time left, to be served on weekends. He's also subject to 12 months probation.
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