Probation for motel assault

A 29-year-old man who acted as “muscle” when a tenant at a Lundy’s Lane motel confronted a tenant at another motel has been placed on probation for 18 months.

Cody Bray, a resident of Toronto, was originally charged with assault with a weapon on July 5, 2017 after the victim told police one of the men who confronted him had a handgun.

Niagara Regional Police converged on the area and located Bray and another male but no weapon was ever found.

In an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Friday Bray pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of assault.

Court was told the first man enlisted Bray to help him confront a couple who lived at the Arkona Motel on Lundy’s Lane whom he said had stolen from him.

Shortly before 3 a.m. that morning, assistant Crown attorney Graeme Leach told court, the man confronted the tenant as Bray stood nearby. The man and the victim struggled in the door way of his motel room. The victim later told police he had been struck with an axe.

Bray’s lawyer told Judge Ann Watson his client turned to alcohol and drugs following the breakdown of his marriage.

The co-accused appeared in court at an earlier date and was sentenced to 50 days in jail.

Bray was sentenced to time served, based on the number of days he has served in pre-trial custody, and placed on probation for 18 months.