Man sentenced for threatening to decapitate his mother

‘It’s apparent his mental health impaired him,’ St. John’s judge says

A man who threatened to decapitate his mother and blow up her car was given probation and a conditional discharge Thursday, with the judge noting he suffers from mental health issues.

The 21-year-old man sat in the dock at provincial court in St. John’s and wiped tears from his eyes as his mother approached the bench from the back of the room when invited to come forward.

“I’ve done so much for him,” the woman said in a wavering voice, adding that she got him into a mental health program at the Waterford hospital. “But the help I can offer is not enough. He really needs more help than I can provide him. It’s sad that it’s come to this.”

The man was charged with two counts of uttering threats after he visited his mother at the Miller Centre in St. John’s in an agitated state. His mother had advised security officers he might show up and when they told the man his mother didn’t want to speak to him at that moment, he threatened to blow up her car and “cut her head off.”

The man, who has no criminal record, pleaded guilty to both charges.

Defence lawyer Tim O’brien told the court the man suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to childhood trauma, along with depression and anxiety, and had been going through a particularly stressful time when he made the threats.

O’brien asked Judge Pamela Goulding for a sentence of six months of probation and a conditional discharge, meaning the accused would have no record if he abides by the probation conditions.

Crown prosecutor Chris Mccarthy argued for a suspended sentence, acknowledging the man’s mental health issues, but noting he had made the threats against his mother in a public place with other people present.

It was Mccarthy who invited the mother forward, asking her if she preferred to have a nocontact order put in place, or if she would rather that the court give her son a condition to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, particularly toward her. She chose the latter, after Mccarthy explained that she and her son could communicate, but he would be arrested for breaking court orders if he caused her any more trouble.

“I just wanted to apologize,” the man stood and said when asked by Goulding if he had anything to say. “I won’t do it again.”

Goulding handed him the defence’s suggestion of six months’ probation, including the condition that he attend and actively participate in counselling for anger management and control, and other issues.

“Not to minimize this in any way at all, but it appears his mental health impaired him that day,” Goulding said. “His mother has done everything she can, and now we’re going to put him in the hands of probation officers.”