Crown seeks 18 months over firearms cache

The Crown is seeking an 18-month sentence for a man arrested in April 2017 after police seized a cache of firearms from a residence in Irvine.

Meanwhile at Monday’s sentencing hearing, defence counsel for Denver Ryan Ailsby argued for a two-year conditional sentence order her client would serve in the community.

Read into the record was the agreed statement of facts, including that Ailsby was sentenced in December 2016 to 90 days on charges that resulted in a 10-year firearm prohibition.

Ailsby was living with a co-accused Brandalyn Brandham in a domestic relationship in Irvine in January, and Brandham obtained licensing to legally have firearms. On Feb. 27, she purchased a shotgun, with police later finding the gun in the possession of another individual who was not allowed to have firearms.

On March 31, Brandham purchased a rifle from Canadian Tire, while in the presence of Ailsby and this other individual. The store’s loss prevention officer became concerned, as he knew the two men were not allowed to have weapons, and he contacted police.

Police obtained a warrant to search the Irvine residence, finding in the kitchen and bedroom multiple guns, loose ammunition, a homemade silencer and two clips altered so they could fire more rounds. Some of the guns did not have trigger locks or other safety features.

While Ailsby originally pled not guilty to charges stemming from the investigation, he entered guilty pleas in February to one count of unsafe storage of a firearm, two counts of unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm and one count of possessing firearms contrary to a court order. Brandham entered a guilty plea to one count of careless storage of a firearm, and was sentenced to nine months house arrest.

Defence counsel Sara Lewans told the court the guns were in the house as Ailsby’s family who had a farm and shooting range were in the process of moving, and the boxes with the guns ended up in the home, and he made a “foolish” decision to keep them in the house.

Ailsby has been released on bail since May 2017 and in that time has never breached his release conditions, said Lewans, he has started his own business he hopes to grow and is providing financial support to his children.

The pre-sentencing report included an evaluation by a Medicine Hat Police Service crime analyst that said Ailsby is a diminished risk to the community, Lewans said, while the PSR shows he’s made “great changes and strides in his life” including cutting out negative peers.

Ailsby has a “significant criminal record” said the Crown, arguing that while he appreciates that Ailsby has made changes in his life for the better, the possession of these firearms is “inherently violent” and poses a risk to the community.

The decision on sentencing has been adjourned to June 26.