Man who assaulted dad sent to prison

A 34-year-old Summerland man was sentenced Monday in provincial court in Penticton to five months in jail for assaulting his father and twice uttering threats.

With credit for time served, Eric Duncan Harrison had 75 days remaining on his sentence, which will be followed by one year of probation.

Court heard Harrison was living with his parents while unemployed and struggling with drug and anger issues on Dec. 21, 2016, when he got into a verbal altercation with his father, whom he ordered not to leave the home.

“You’re not f-----g going anywhere. I’ll kill you,” Harrison told his father, according to Crown counsel Kurt Froehlich.

A week later, the two men argued again and Harrison grabbed his father by the neck and jaw, resulting in bruising, and prompting the father to report the incident to police.

Harrison was released on a promise to appear in court and ordered to have no contact with his parents. However, he returned to the family home on Jan. 15 to collect some personal items.

While there, he threw a coffee table at his father, ripped a phone cord from the wall, smashed a lamp and tore down a curtain rod.

He later threatened to “bash everything, then burn the house down,” Froehlich told the court.

Harrison left without further incident and was arrested a short distance away.

Citing prior convictions for assault and assault causing bodily harm, plus the fear Harrison instilled in his parents, Froehlich suggested the sentence of five months’ jail.

Defence counsel James Pennington said there are “ongoing issues within the family” and recommended a sentence of time served to allow his client to immediately accept a job offer in Fort McMurray.

Harrison, who appeared via videoconference from Okanagan Correctional Centre, apologized to both the court and his parents when given an opportunity to speak.

“I just hope for a better future for all of us,” he said.

Judge Meg Shaw went along with the Crown’s sentencing submission, noting the need to deter Harrison and others from committing such offences, which she described as particularly concerning because they occurred “within a family context.”

Once on probation, Harrison will again be banned from having any contact with his parents.