Man receives three year sentence for multiple convictions

A Kainai man who assaulted a former girlfriend and threatened to shoot her with a rifle, has received a lengthy jail sentence.

Nelson Lambert Gros Ventre Boy was sentenced Friday in Lethbridge provincial court to three years and 45 days in custody on several weapon-related offences in 2020.

However, Judge Sylvia Oishi, who sentenced Gros Ventre Boy on charges of assault with a weapon, threats to cause death or bodily harm, careless storage of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm, assault and mischief, gave the offender credit for time he has already spent in custody, leaving him with a sentence of just under two years.

The Crown had sought a sentence of three to three and a half years in prison, while defence recommended a sentence of two to three years.

Gros Ventre Boy pleaded not guilty to the charges and stood trial in 2021. Oishi found him guilty last December but sentencing was adjourned to allow time for the preparation of a pre-sentence report and Gladue report that provided the court with Gros Ventre Boy’s personal circumstances and aboriginal background.

Oishi said Gros Ventre Boy used the rifle to threaten and intimidate his former girlfriend, who was only 16 years old at the time of the offences and 12 years younger than her boyfriend. Gros Ventre Boy threatened to shoot and kill the young girl, pointed the gun at her and fired two shots in her direction.

On another occasion the offender knocked the girl to the ground and forced her to remain there, and he smashed the window of a vehicle in which the girl was a passenger.

Oishi said although the girl didn’t file a victim impact statement, there can be no doubt she would have been traumatized by the violence she experienced, and will likely suffer the psychological impact of it for much of her life.

“When Mr. Gros Ventre Boy was pointing the gun at (the girl), he said, ‘should I shoot you to teach you a lesson? Do you want to die?’ and then he fired in her general direction, not once, but twice.

“In relation to the firearm offence, (the victim) was clearly terrified; screaming and crying and begging Mr. Gros Ventre Boy to stop.”

To his credit, Oishi added, he did stop, laid down the gun and cried in remorse then apologized. But his expression of regret showed little insight or accountability, and he effectively blamed his victim when he said, “see what you made me do?”

His mitigation is further reduced, Oishi said, because a few days later he assaulted her again and damaged the vehicle in which she was escaping.

Oishi also considered as mitigating Gros Ventre Boy’s aboriginal background and pointed out his grandparents and mother attended residential school, and according to his grandmother the experience was devastating. He witnessed violence when he was a child and feared for his safety, and he was placed in foster care when he was only five years old because of his parents’ alcohol abuse. Over a period of about 15 years, 15 people - family, his closest friends, a respected elder - have died from the opioid epidemic.

Gros Ventre Boy, who also suffers from drug addiction and overdosed on three occasions, has ADHD, suffers from social anxiety, and struggles to cope with his emotions, which cause him to act out in frustration and anger.

Oishi noted, however, that just before he was arrested, he was living with a young woman who said he was never violent toward her. And in his pre-sentence report his probation officer said Gros Ventre Boy has insight into his areas of risk and is prepared and willing to address and manage those issues.

“The reports make it clear that Mr. Gros Ventre Boy has suffered the effects of intergenerational trauma unique to the experience of the Indigenous people, and it has had a direct bearing on his social and psychological condition that led to his criminal offending.”