. year under house arrest at

House arrest given [UMMM

for slitting throat —
of RCMP officer

Jury, justice not persuaded |
man knew victim's identity

MARGARET SPEIRS
A TERRACE man won’t be
going to jail after being ac-
quitted by a jury of attempt-
ing to murder a police offi-
cer during a fight, in which
the officer’s throat was slit.

But Charles Joseph
Costello, 36, will spend one

his mother’s residence and
one year under a strict cur-
few for assault and aggra-
vated assault.

The trial, heard in Prince |
Rupert in June, hinged on
whether. or not Costello *
knew that the officer, Con- -
stable Cam Joseph, was a police officer.

Crown counsel Mike Fulmer, in sentenc-
ing arguments heard in Terrace provincial
court Sept. 19, said Costello knew Joseph
was an RCMP officer.

Fulmer wanted Costello sent to federal
prison for three years where, he said, he

could benefit from anger management and .

alcohol counselling programs during his in-
carceration and afterward when he was pa-
roled.
Evidence presented at the trial and gone
over during sentencing arguments stated
Joseph encountered Costello in the alley be-

' hind Pizza Hut the night of Dec. 20, 2003.

Although just off shift and driving home

in an unmarked police truck, Joseph was re- .

sponding to a call of a disturbance at Hanky
Panky’s.

Joseph spotted Costello in the alley and
drove in to determine if Costello was in-
volved in the disturbance.

He was punched by Costello as he was
getting out of the truck.

Evidence given indicated Joseph saw the
knife in Costello’s right hand, realized he
had been cut and was bleeding from a cut
under his chin and jaw. ©

He then hit Costello a few times and held
his right arm.

Joseph sustained a cut 13-cm long and
1/2 cm deep at its deepest point that required
several stitches.

Subsequent testimony from witnesses Be

indicated Costello was then physically sub-
dued by other officers who arrived after the
initial assault. He was also knocked uncon-
scious.

In his pre- sentencing arguments, defence

lawyer Terry La Liberte said there was testi-

mony, accepted by the jury in its acquittal of
the attempted murder charge, that Costello
did not know Joseph was a police officer.
“My client was acquitted of anything to
do with the peace officer,” La Liberte said.
The police officer wanted it to be made
obvious that he was a police officer so he
testified he was wearing his yellow uniform

jacket but other officers said he was wearing -

blue, recalled La Liberte.
* Joseph testified he thought he’d been
punched and didn’t realize until [ater that

- he’d been cut.

The cut was deemed to be superficial, La

“Liberte told the court. -

“Again, this is where it’s difficult. We
can’t minimize a cut to an individual. No
peace officer deserves to have his throat slit
but we’re not here to determine that,” he
said. ff

Joseph later received a medal of valour
for his actions that evening but it should: not
influence any sentence, said La Liberte.

He said the award made Joseph a * ‘poster
boy” but was overkill because he | was in-
jured on the job.

“I'm not minimizing that he was cut on
the job but you can’t turn around and make
[Costello] a scapegoat for the officers’ ac-
tions.” La Liberte said. —

- That last comment was in reference to the
actions of the police officers who arrived af-

ter the initial altercation between Joseph and

Costello.

_Cst. Cam n Joseph

Rupert trial indicated a
group of officers subdued
Costello.

The officers, all young,
reacted in human terms and
-understandably _ overreacted

_ when they saw Joseph was.
bleeding, La Liberte said.

“They laid a licking on
my client,” he said.

. Costello did not try to plead
. Self defence as he could not:
remember events because of
the beating he took from po-
lice officers. *
He said Costellé made
just one motion, a punch to

~ the face of Joseph with the knife in his hand

and not a stabbing thrust. an
In’ asking for a- three-year sentence,

Crown counsel Fulmer noted Costello had —

a criminal record involving a previous inci-

“ dent with a knife.

“You can’t have two incidents like this,
two incidents with a knife and find the per-
son is no danger to the community,” he told
Mr. Justice Douglas Halfyard of the B.C.

' Supreme Court.

He said a conditional sentence would not
be appropriate, would not protect the ‘public,

or fail to deter others.

The Prince Rupert trial did hear Costello
was drinking the night of the attack and was
carrying the knife to protect himself against
bears. ;

“I infer the jury acquitted the accused
of assaulting a police officer because they
weren’t satisfied he knew Constable Joseph

was a police officer,” Halfyard told the court

in his sentencing remarks.
“The accused testified he was drank and
carried a knife for self defence, ” Halfyard

- continued.

' “He ran because the man he.was with told
him to run: He did not know a police officer
was after him.”

Halfyard said that while Crown counsel

Fulmer argued Joseph was attacked without —

provocation, “Tm not persuaded it was un-
Tt isea a mitigating: fact the offence was’
impulsive, not planned and deliberate, and
Mr. Costello did not know Const. Joseph

* was a police officer.”

Costello is not a danger to the commu-
nity if he serves a conditional sentence in the
community, Halfyard added.

“In my opinion, incarceration is not nec-

‘essary. I think a conditional sentence order

of two years less a day with conditions is
consistent,” he said.

After Costello does: his first year under
house arrest at his mother’s residence, he
will spend the second 12 months with a cur-
few from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. seven days each
week... a

He,then will serve two years of probation
with conditions, was ordered to provide a
DNA sample and is prohibited from owning ©

Or possessing any weapons or firearms for

life. &
La Liberte noted his client had success-
fully completed a stress management course

_in’2004, which was after the incident..

Costello lost his job at Totem Press,
which he’d worked at for 14 years, follow-
ing the incident after his co-workers said
they didn’t feel comfortable around him, La
Liberte said.

Since then, Costello.has volunteered with
the lunch program at Thornhill Elementary,
where his supervisors said they were im-
pressed with his positive attitude and enthu--

-siasm, said La Liberte.

Joseph has since’ been transferred oto
Penticton, He testified at the trial he suffered
post-traumatic stress and took three months
off to attend counselling.

Halfyard noted other evidence indicating

.the stress affects his relationship with his

wife and his job as a traffic analyst.

Jailed for domestic assault |

ASSAULTING HIS wife in front of their

_ children has cost a Nass Valley man his free-

dom for two months.
Quentin Stevens, 30, was found guilty of

-assault and being unlawfully in a dwelling
house in Terrace Provincial Court on Sept.:

|
He received two months in jail, one year
probation and must provide a DNA sample.
In the early evening of March 22, 2005,
Stevens’ wife went upstairs after preparing
dinner for their two sons in their Greenville
home, Crown counsel Barry Zacharias told

the court.
While she was gone, he entered and sat at

the table with their children.

While walking downstairs, she heard him
say she wasn’t taking care of the children,

continued Zacharias

He threw a plate of spaghetti at her,
grabbed her and elbowed the right side of
her face.

She told him to stop for fear he might hurt
their unborn child and eventually he did, the
court heard. ,

Stevens was very intoxicated during the

incident and when he passed out, she went
to get help..

Stevens has been in jail since July 17 for

a breach of probation on another matter,
Zacharias concluded.
Zacharias suggested four months of jail

and for Stevens not to come within 100 me- .
tres of his wife and have no contact with her
* except in accordance with an access order to

see their children.

Defence counsel Scott Mulder told the
court his client acknowledged his single
biggest problem was alcoho] abuse and he
wished to seek counselling for drinking and

‘anger management.

Judge Ed de Walle noted that Stevens had
plead guilty to the charges and had spent al- .
most two months in custody.

He gave Stevens four months credit for

- time served.

De Walle acknowledged that Stevens
wanted to take counselling for alcohol abuse
and anger management.

“Unless you want to keep going in circles

‘you might want to [address these issues],” de

Walle told Stevens and the rest of the court.

Witnesses at the Prince —

La Liberte. added that .

wee
8

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 28, 2005 -'A7

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