MAN JAILED FOR ASSAULT ON CO-WORKER

Wayne Crant gets 15-day sentence after incident that got him fired

A P.E.I. man who shoved a female co-worker to the ground and hit her several times while they were at work was sentenced recently to 15 days in jail.

Wayne Crant, 50, appeared before Chief Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Charlottetown for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to one count of assault.

After Crant entered his plea during a previous appearance, the court heard he was at work on May 10 when he got into a dispute with a female coworker.

Crant pushed the woman against a table, knocked her down and punched her in the head several times, the court heard.

He lost his job because of the incident.

During the most recent court appearance, defence lawyer Scott Barry said Crant didn’t think he struck the victim while he was on top of her, but he accepted witness statements that he did.

Other coworkers quickly intervened and pulled Crant off, Barry said.

Referring to a pre-sentence report prepared in the case, Barry said it points to an underlying issue with anger management.

The court heard Crant has been referred to a psychiatrist.

Barry said the incident was isolated, brief, uncalled for and Crant was remorseful.

Orr also referred to the presentence report, which she said noted Crant had been written up three times previously for incidents at work.

People have disputes all the time but rarely tackle the other person, throw them to the ground and assault them when they’re a co-worker, Orr said.

She also said a supervisor described Crant as a “hot head” while his former employer considered him one of his best workers but had to fire him because of his actions.

Orr told Crant his sentence would have been higher if he hadn’t taken steps to deal with his issues.

Along with the jail time, Crant will be on probation for 18 months, during which time he is banned from contact with the victim.

He must also write an apology letter to the woman.