Loaded handgun nets man three years' jail
Police found weapon under mattress and 215 bullets after raid at Northern Lites Motel
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A man caught with a loaded handgun stuffed under a mattress at a downtown hotel received a three-year jail sentence Friday.
Anatoly Eichmann received a three-year sentence Friday after being found in possession of a loaded semi-automatic pistol. |
Anatoly Eichmann, a Yellowknife resident, pleaded guilty to possessing a restricted firearm April 14. The 28 year old, dressed in a green T-shirt, grey sweatpants and sock feet, was sentenced in territorial court by judge Bernadette Schmaltz.
Court heard that Eichmann and a woman were in a room at the Northern Lites Motel when RCMP executed a search warrant on Jan. 26.
Mounties found the semi-automatic Wildey handgun under the mattress of the bed with five rounds inside, although none were chambered, court heard. The RCMP recovered four boxes of ammunition for the gun - 215 bullets in total. Police also confiscated a collapsible baton - a restricted weapon, scales, a pipe, marijuana grinders and two cellphones. Court heard the handgun was reported stolen from a pawn shop in the U.S. There was no evidence given as to how the firearm ended up in Eichmann's possession.
The woman who was in the room when it was raided was initially charged with the same offences.
The charges against her were eventually withdrawn. Court heard the pair had been in the room for a few days where they had been consuming cocaine, alcohol and marijuana, according to Crown prosecutor Brendan Green.
"There is no need to stress the danger of having a gun, ammunition and drugs in the same room," Green told the judge as he asked for a prison sentence of between 30 and 40 months.
Defence lawyer Paul Falvo told court his client had a troubled upbringing in Siberian Russia before coming to Canada.
"He had extremely negative factors during his childhood, including with his mother who was brutalized and murdered by two soldiers before he was 10 years old," Falvo told the court.
"Despite his difficult childhood he has been working to turn his life around. He protected the woman who was with him in the room, insisting that the weapons were his and that there should be no proceedings against her."
Eichmann was later adopted out to a couple in Calgary at age 10, Falvo told Yellowknifer outside of court after sentencing.
"His early upbringing reads like a screenplay for a movie," said Falvo.
Eichmann kept the gun only for self-defence, Falvo told the court. He suggested a sentence of one and a half to two years would be appropriate. He pointed out that Eichmann's criminal record did not include any violent offences.
Schmaltz nonetheless said the loaded handgun presented a dangerous situation.
"Obviously, courts across the country are treating these types of offences seriously," the judge said. "The risk to the community is too great."
Schmaltz noted some of Eichmann's trauma at an early age was similar to those suffered by some indigenous offenders in the North.
"Despite the problems you have I believe you have potential," Schmaltz told Eichmann.
"I hope you take the opportunity while in custody to get things straightened out."
She ordered Eichmann to provide a sample of his DNA for the national registry.
Schmaltz also prohibited him from owning or possessing firearms for 10 years upon release from jail.
Eichmann has been in custody since his arrest in January. He was given about six and a half months credit for his pre-trial custody which will be deducted from his sentence. It's not clear whether Eichmann will go to a prison down south - typically reserved for convicts serving sentences greater than two years - or at the North Slave Correctional Centre in Yellowknife.
All other charges against Eichmann were dropped.
