Waterloo man fined for possessing crossbow

A Waterloo man was found guilty of violating a weapons ban by having a crossbow, despite a judge ruling that police found it in an unlawful search.

A motorist called police on the night of Feb. 17, 2023, after seeing the man dressed head to toe in camouflage clothing walking down Weber Street North, near the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market, carrying a large axe.

His son, wearing a camouflage jacket, was carrying a bow saw.

They did not have nefarious plans.

Unbeknownst to motorists, the father, 46, and son, 12, were simply walking home after cutting wood and hunting rabbits on a friend’s farm, Kitchener court was told last week.

An officer detained the man, searched his backpack without consent and found a small crossbow.

The crossbow (but apparently not the axe) breached a weapons ban put in place after the man was convicted of assault by choking in 2022.

A judge ruled the backpack search violated the man’s Charter rights, but allowed the crossbow to be entered into evidence.

He was found guilty of violating the weapons ban.

The man said he had been hunting with a bow and arrow and maintained the crossbow belonged to his son.

He has a PhD in theoretical physics, but is unemployed and on welfare after racking up a criminal record.

His defence lawyer, Tom

Brock, has practised for more than 40 years and has represented thousands of clients, but never a theoretical physicist, until now.

“I talked to him about black holes and how they’re finding them and that type of thing,” Brock said in an interview.

“He was very interesting to talk to.”

How did his career as a theoretical physicist go off the rails?

“He blames it on amassing a little bit of a criminal record, which creates problems with teaching students,” Brock said.

Violating a weapons ban would usually call for a jail sentence, but Crown prosecutor Lindsay Lubberdink said the facts in the case were unusual.

He did not have the crossbow to commit a crime, she noted.

“But in any event, it was a clear breach of a court order,” Lubberdink said. “There does have to be some significant sentence to go along with that.”

His criminal record is an aggravating factor, she said.

“The assault by choking is a serious charge in which he was sentenced to some jail time for that and he was placed on that weapons order at that time,” Lubberdink said.

“A few short months later, he was convicted of harassing communications and failure to comply with an undertaking and received further jail time.”

The Crown proposed a $3,000 fine; Brock asked for a $500 fine as his client gets just $733 a month from welfare.

“The facts in this case, I agree, are somewhat unusual,” said Justice Frances Brennan. “It’s clear that there was no criminal activity."

She noted the crossbow “was not being used to intimidate or harass anyone.”

But the man is “no stranger to court orders,” she said, and “no stranger to the consequences for breaching court orders.”

“The reality is you’re an intelligent man, sir,” the judge said. “You knew that by having that crossbow you were in violation of a court order.”

Brennan fined him $1,500, ordered him to give a DNA sample for the national database and handed him a 10-year weapons ban.

“I hope, sir, that today is your last day in the criminal courts,” she said. “Good luck to you, sir.”