FILE PHOTO.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

It's not clear what a 63-year-old Vernon man said in numerous messages sent to a local business owner, but they fell outside of the scope of a bad review and landed him in a Vernon courtroom.

Today, Feb. 12, Lee Stuart Hurndell pleaded guilty after being charged with making harassing communications. Another charge of criminal harassment was stayed by the Crown.

Details in the courtroom were very vague. Hurndell hadn't been a client of the business owner but there was some kind of personal connection to a family member, which is why Hurndell had sent the messages.

"The Internet is a powerful tool. It allows you to reach out and do a lot of damage to people," BC Provincial Court Judge George Leven said.

The contents of the messages weren't read out in court and how many messages he sent also wasn't mentioned.

The court did hear that even after the business owner got a lawyer to send a cease and desist type letter Hurndell still kept going.

In an age where online spats have become part of day-to-day life for some, Hurndell's crossed a line when he repeatedly sent messages for the purpose of harassment.

"In our information age... these kinds of things that are let loose on somebody over social media have a huge negative impact," Judge Leven told Hurndell. "It's no longer a matter of just personally speaking to somebody and insulting them. You are affecting their very well-being in the community."

In a joint submission to the court, lawyers asked for a one-year suspended sentence, meaning Hurndell avoids any kind of house arrest or jail, but has to comply with certain conditions, such as staying away from the victim.

In Canada, judges are largely bound to follow a joint submission and Judge Leven said if it wasn't a joint submission he would impose a much more serious sentence.

"Because these are the kinds of things that need to be deterred from an individual perspective and from a public perspective," the judge said. "And the reality is that people should be punished for all these kinds of things to know that this is not acceptable."

Little was heard about Hurndell's life only that he lived on disability benefits and worked part-time. In 2007, he was convicted of a domestic assault and spent two weeks in jail for uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm in another case. Two years later he received a sentence of house arrest for again uttering threats. These offences all took place in Golden.

In this case, the judge ordered Hurndell to remove all social media posts he had written about the victim and give information about his social accounts to his probation officer.

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