Man pleads guilty to uttering threats

A couple and their children out for a walk in Indian Battle Park were given quite a fright when a man approached them and demanded they tell him where his wife is.

The family was walking near the Elks Compound last month when Gary Vance Goodwin jumped out from behind some trees and threatened them. He said if they didn’t tell him where his wife was, he would kill them.

Goodwin, 36, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Lethbridge court to single counts of uttering threats to cause death and breaching conditions of a release order. He was sentenced to 50 days in jail, but given credit for the equivalent of 47 days spent in custody, leaving him with only three days remaining on his jail term.

Court was told that after he startled the family, they ran to their car and called police. When police arrived they found Goodwin inside the locked Elks Compound wearing only pants and runners and mumbling something about two wolf dogs that were coming to get him.

Goodwin, who appeared to be living in the woods, told police someone had kidnapped his wife. He was subsequently arrested under the Mental Health Act.

When police found him in the park he was obviously high and admitted taking drugs that morning. That was in breach of a release condition he was under in 2016 when he was released on other charges and ordered not to consume drugs.

Lawyer Scott Hadford told court his client lives at the shelter and has been addicted to drugs since he was 20 years old. And when Goodwin is on drugs he shows signs of psychosis.

Judge Sylvia Oishi acknowledged Goodwin’s apology to the court, but said people are entitled to use the city’s parks without fear of being terrorized by someone on drugs and who is behaving in a bizarre manner.

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