Glace Bay man to serve rest of assault sentence in jail

SYDNEY — A Glace Bay man who stomped on his longtime girlfriend’s head and later threatened to “bury her” will remain behind bars.

Michael Walter Coley, 48, was previously sentenced to six months in jail and 24 months of probation on two counts of assault involving a woman he had been in a relationship with for about 25 years.

During a provincial court trial last year, the victim described how on Nov. 18, 2019, Coley grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her down before kicking her multiple times in the stomach and stomping on her head. The woman kicked Coley in the groin area and ran to neighbour’s home.

The woman said there was blood coming from her nose and the neighbour wiped her face before she returned home.

The second assault took place May 1, 2020, when Coley grabbed the woman by her shirt while they were in his truck.

She said Coley was swinging at her as he raced back to their home where he told her he was going to bury her.

‘REPREHENSIBLE’ ACTS

In his decision, Judge Daniel MacRury concluded that neither a conditional discharge nor a conditional sentence would be appropriate because it was a case of serious intimate partner violence.

MacRury said Coley’s acts were “reprehensible” and “have to be condemned.”

Coley filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia claiming that MacRury didn’t apply the sentencing principles; the sentence was excessive; the sentence was not fit and proper under the circumstances; and that MacRury didn’t give proper weight to all relevant principles of sentencing.

However, Justice Scott Norton dismissed the appeal Monday, stating MacRury “correctly determine that the paramount sentencing principles are denunciation and deterrence.”

Norton ruled that Coley is committed to serve the remaining 154 days of his sentence in jail followed to two years probation.