Seven months behind bars for Kamloops man in bizarre assault | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops News

Seven months behind bars for Kamloops man in bizarre assault

KAMLOOPS - A Kamloops man who pleaded guilty to assaulting an acquaintance being held in a home against his will has been sentenced to seven months behind bars.

Steven Gardner, 21, appeared in Kamloops Supreme Court today where he admitted to assaulting Sean Michael Redenbach.

Crown prosecutor Chris Balison told the court that on Dec. 24, 2016, Redenbach had been temporarily released from Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre as part of his intermittent jail sentence.

He was taken to the bus depot where he met a man named David Tremblay, who was with Gardner.

Balison said Gardner and Redenbach didn't have much contact at first, but the trio decided to go to a house party on Nelson Avenue on Kamloops' North Shore.

Balison said the house could be referred to as a "crack shack."

"At first (Redenbach) remained there under his own will," Balison told the court today, May 9.

But it didn't stay that way for long. Balison said Redenbach reluctantly stayed in the house until Dec. 28 because he felt he couldn't leave. Every time he would try to speak up, he was assaulted, sometimes by surprise.

Gardner was one of the first people who assaulted Redenbach and did so a few times. One beating was very bad, Balison told the court.

Gardner was charged with aggravated assault and unlawful confinement or imprisonment, but he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault. Court heard he has a short but recent criminal record.

Defence lawyer Brad Smith says his record is a result of poor lifestyle choices. Smith said he and Balison came to a joint submission that a seven-month prison sentence would be fit.

With credit for time served, Gardner will spend 27 more days behind bars before he is released onto a one-year probation period.

"The joint submission is reasonable and appropriate," Supreme Court judge Dev Dley said. "Mr. Gardner, you're 21 years old and you can see from the manner in which the court has treated you, the more crimes you commit the higher the sentence. If you carry on like this, the next sentence, I can assure you, will be much longer."

Gardner is not to have contact with Redenbach or the co-accused persons in the case, must abstain from drugs and alcohol and is not to possess any weapons during his probation period.

He's also banned from possessing weapons for five years.

Balison says Tremblay is expected to plead guilty to the offence later this week, although it's unclear which charges he will plead guilty to. 


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