Seven-month jail sentence for man who threatened to kill woman in series of texts

A man who threatened to kill a woman over a series of hundreds of text messages and showed up at her house in the middle of the night was sentenced to just more than seven months in prison Friday.

Dwight Saunders had pleaded guilty to uttering threats and criminal harassment. Other charges, including charges of sexual assault and choking, were withdrawn by the Crown.

Saunders, 31, had been arguing with the woman over text messages Jan. 5 and showed up at her C.B.S. home in the middle of the night. When she texted a friend to come over as soon as possible, he took her phone and texted her friends again, pretending to be the woman and saying, “It’s ok, it’s nothing, I’m in bed, sorry. I’ll call you in the morning.”

He also ripped the woman’s landline from the wall. Saunders eventually left the home, but began calling and texting the woman again shortly thereafter, threatening to return and kick her door in.

“I’ll kill all ye,” he wrote her, accusing her of having a man in the house with her. “Other messages included, “You won’t live long,” “You walk and I will ruin you,” and “You’ll never learn unless I murder someone or kill myself.”

In another one, Saunders — who knew the woman was at home with her two children, one of them a baby, according to prosecutor Robin Singleton — wrote, “I’ll murder everyone in the house.”

Almost 400 text messages, taken from the woman’s phone that night, were entered as evidence to the court at Saunders’ sentencing hearing earlier this month. Saunders address the court himself, telling Judge James Walsh he had taken drugs the night in question and couldn’t remember some of the text messages he had sent.

“Just jealousy and stuff got the better of me,” Saunders said. “I make stupid decisions sometimes.” Once his jail sentence is complete, Saunders will be on probation for two years, and will be banned from firearms for life. In 2010, Saunders was convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting a physically disabled woman during a party at her apartment.

Four years ago he pleaded guilty to charges in relation to a standoff with police at a house on Thorburn Road, which began after he held a loaded shotgun to his head and threatened to shoot himself unless his mother gave him money. She refused and called police.