Derek Michael Martineau appeared in Estevan Provincial Court on Monday with so many charges that they filled nearly two full pages on the court docket.
While the bulk of the charges were breaches of various undertakings and failures to appear in court, he had charges for assault, a marijuana possession and resisting a police officer.
The number of charges was spread across a total of seven informations – the court documents which list the formal charges against an accused.
In addition to these charges, Martineau also faces an unrelated charge of sexual assault on a minor in Court of Queen’s Bench. It was not dealt with on this day.
Martineau, 26, was in custody, having been behind bars since Aug. 25.
Crown prosecutor Chris White noted the most serious was the assault charge. On July 5, 2017, police in Weyburn were dispatched to a location in that city. Martineau had been in a room with a number of other people. White said Martineau grabbed the victim, a young woman, and choked her with his forearm until she briefly lost consciousness. This occurred while he was on conditions from the court.
White noted Martineau already has a significant period of custody under his belt.
As part of a joint submission between the Crown and defence, Martineau pleaded guilty to several charges, with the remainder being stayed by the prosecution.
He pleaded guilty to assault, possession of marijuana, five counts of breach of an undertaking and one count of failure to appear. Charges were stayed on failure to appear, resisting police officer and four counts of breach of an undertaking.
Recognizing that Martineau had been in remand for 66 days, and that credit is applied for 1 1/2 times remand time, White explained Martineau had effectively served 99 days. As a result, he asked that all the breach and fail to attend charged be summed up into a one-day sentence on top of the time served. The assault charge would see a four-month consecutive sentence be served in jail, followed by 12 months of probation during which he would be under standard conditions and need to take anger management and substance abuse treatment.
He would also have a no-contact order with the victim of the assault.
Defence attorney Jonathan Goby noted Martineau does have a considerable record. He called it “a reasonable sentence.”
Judge Lane Wiegers, in passing down his sentence, said, “Mr. Martineau, you’re a young man.”
He said the court has hope and optimism that people can get their affairs in order. “I want to impress upon you … you have a long record,” Wiegers said. He noted there were a significant number of breaches and violence, and that he should “put his full heart into treatment.”
“If you get into trouble again, the sentences are going to get longer and longer.”
With that he granted the sentence the crown requested, and ordered Martineau to pay a $1,000 victim impact surcharge, with eight months to pay once he is out of jail. The judge suggested he might want to work it off through the fine option program.
Upon his release, Martineau is expected to be living in Estevan.
Also in court on Monday, Aleah McIaac’s case was adjourned to April 1, 2019. Goby, who is McIsaac’s defence attorney, asked for the five-month adjournment.
White said McIsaac is making efforts to repay the money that she took from the Estevan Youth Soccer Association.
Wiegers granted the adjournment.
McIsaac, a 36-year-old woman from Estevan, pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 last month. The charges stemmed from when McIsaac was involved with the association. The period of the offence was from Jan. 1, 2016, to Feb. 1, 2017.
