Jail is only option for man charged with disregarding bail orders: judge

A piece of paper isn’t enough to keep Adam William Jackson away from the woman he is accused of assaulting, court finds

A St. John’s judge denied bail to a man charged with breaching orders not to contact a woman he is accused of assaulting, saying jail is the only way to stop him from doing it again.

“The accused will not leave the complainant alone,” wrote Provincial Court Judge Harold Porter in his April 11 decision to deny Adam William Jackson bail. “He has repeatedly demonstrated that a piece of paper, even one that is a (bail) order, will not prevent him from further contact with the complainant.”

Jackson is charged with impaired driving, refusal to comply with a police demand, assault, forcible confinement and three counts of violating bail orders in connection with a series of incidents that happened between April 6, 2023, and March 28, 2024.

The judge described them as four separate alleged criminal adventures.

In the first instance, police responded to a report of an unwelcome person at a woman’s home, arriving to find the accused had already left in a pickup. Police then learned of a traffic accident at the intersection of Topsail Road and Commonwealth Avenue in Mount Pearl and attended the scene, where Jackson was using a cellphone while standing outside the truck, which had reportedly hit a concrete wall. Officers arrested him for impaired driving and he refused to provide a urine sample for analysis. He was released from custody with a court date.

Last September, police received a report of a woman screaming in a residential area before they responded to a call from the same complainant as the earlier incident. She told them she had been in a car with Jackson, who had held her by the neck and wouldn’t let her out. When she got the car door open, he pushed her out, she said. Police noticed she was wearing one shoe, and found the matching shoe in the passenger foot well of Jackson’s car.

Video captured in the neighbourhood showed the vehicle stopping, the woman coming out and landing on her hands and feet, and Jackson getting out, picking her up and putting her back in the car before driving away.

Police arrested him and held him in custody for court, where he was released on bail the next day with orders that included having no contact with the woman and not carrying a concealed knife.

In January, the complainant reported to police that Jackson had called her several times and expressed suicidal ideation. Officers found him at a Bay Bulls business and searched him, finding a knife. They held him for court, where he was once again released on bail.

On March 28, the woman told police that Jackson had been calling, texting, and using social media to contact her, and showed them screenshots. Jackson was arrested and his bail hearing took place over two days earlier this month.

Jackson testified he has been receiving counselling for drug abuse and anger management, but has missed some sessions because of weather.

Porter determined Jackson would likely reoffend if he were granted bail again, and said giving him another release order would be “an exercise in futility.”

“His disregard for prior release orders is obvious,” the judge said.

“He keeps contacting the complainant, despite the fact that she says she does not want to hear from him, and despite court orders which prohibit him from contacting her.”

Porter also determined Jackson’s release would undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.