July 10, 2014 - 11:27 AM
Assaults against two women should be enough to have a prolific offender declared a dangerous offender, says a Crown lawyer.
Joel Gold told a hearing in B.C. Supreme Court that 43-year-old Shane Jeurissen should be locked up indefinitely because the separate attacks on his girlfriends suggest he is a danger to the public.
Jeurissen has more than 100 convictions, many of them for breaching court-ordered conditions.
He pleaded guilty last year to assault with a weapon and breaching court conditions after he entered his girlfriend’s home and punched her in the eye while she was on the phone.
RCMP said he then held a knife to her throat.
Prior to that offence, Jeurissen pleaded guilty to assault for punching a different woman, causing injury to her face.
Other offences include threats to guards at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker has three sentencing options for Jeurissen: an indeterminate jail sentence, a minimum two-year jail term, followed by a long-term supervision order in the community, or a jail sentence with no special conditions.
Gold argued that, under some circumstances, an offender like Jeurissen could be given a jail sentence followed by a long-term supervision order that would protect the public.
“But there’s evidence of real challenges for Mr. Jeurissen to comply with community supervision,” Gold said during closing submissions.
Jeurissen has been excluded from the courtroom, including via video appearance, based on his frequent outbursts.
On Monday, he told the judge he doesn't care to be in court when lawyers make their final arguments.
"I'd rather have nothing to do with it, and you just let me know after if I'm DO'd (labelled a dangerous offender) or not."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014