Man sentenced for violent incidents
John MacArthur ordered to serve more than eight years in jail
A P.E.I. man with no fixed address has been handed a significant jail sentence for his part in two violent incidents in 2015 and 2016.
John Joseph MacArthur, 39, was sentenced in Summerside Provincial Court on June 29 to eight years and one month in jail. He was credited with 13 months already spent behind bars.
He also has to pay $300 in victim surcharges, is banned from owning firearms for life and has to submit a DNA sample to national criminal registry. MacArthur pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one count of possession of a prohibited weapon. Both charges are from an incident that took place sometime between Nov. 19 and Dec. 26, 2015, in Summerside.
He also pleaded guilty to one charge of assault causing bodily harm.
That charge is from March 10, 2016, in Summerside.
All the charges against MacArthur involved the same victim.
The court heard during MacArthur’s sentencing that the first incident involved an attempt to collect on a debt. During the second incident, MacArthur and another man entered the victim’s home while he was not there and then beat him severely when he arrived. MacArthur smashed a glass ashtray over his victim’s head and, along with his accomplice, beat him for more than 15 minutes.
At one point during the attack, the victim was stripped naked and MacArthur started brandishing a pair of scissors. The victim managed to run from the house and jump in a car waiting outside. He sustained broken ribs, bruising and swelling to his head and face, and there were clear boot imprints all over his body.
MacArthur also has a significant previous criminal record, which played into the length of his sentence.