Man gets 11 months for threats, break and enter
Lloyd Thrasher sentenced for December incident during which he threatened officer and his dog
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, August 18, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A man who threatened to decapitate an RCMP officer and rape and kill his dog has been sentenced to 11 months in jail.
Lloyd Thrasher, seen in this 2011 photo being led from the Yellowknife courthouse, was sentenced to 11 months in jail Friday after he threatened an RCMP officer's life and committed other offences. Thrasher, who has a long criminal history, was also sentenced for being unlawfully in a house and break and enter. - NNSL file photo |
Lloyd Thrasher, 29, was handed his punishment in territorial court by judge Bernadette Schmaltz on Friday. She had convicted Thrasher in a judge-only trial in June of being unlawfully in a dwelling house, break and enter and uttering threats.
The threats followed an incident on Dec. 21, 2016 where Thrasher opened the back door of a home on 54 Street, just outside the downtown core. A woman inside called RCMP after she heard someone trying to enter her home.
Thrasher left her property without going inside after he heard a dog bark. Police arrived and noticed tracks in the snow leading from the back door to a neighbouring yard. They eventually arrested Thrasher, who was hiding in a garage on the property.
Court heard he was co-operative at first but once he was taken to the RCMP detachment he became belligerent and made threats.
Thrasher had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Schmaltz said the threats against the officer were particularly aggravating because Thrasher told the officer he knew where he lived.
"Police have to regularly confront danger head-on," she said. "They know officers have been hurt and killed in the line of duty. That's what comes to their minds when they are threatened."
Schmaltz pointed out Thrasher is a talented musician who has proven he can hold down a job. She said, however, he also has a criminal record more than five pages long with more than 40 convictions.
Schmaltz, who said she took into account Thrasher's troubled upbringing in Aklavik, gave him four months for his attempted entry into the woman's house, three months for entering the neighbour's garage and four months for the threats.
Using the standard 1.5 days for each of the 159 days Thrasher spent in pre-trial custody, Schmaltz gave seven months' credit for time served.
That means the sentence amounts to four months, which will be tacked on to three-month sentence Thrasher is already serving for theft-related offences.
His lawyer Kate Oja had asked for seven months, pointing out that for the charge of being unlawfully in a dwelling, Thrasher never actually gained entry to the woman's home.
Crown prosecutor Trevor Johnson had asked for a 15-month sentence with a five-year firearms prohibition.
Schmaltz denied the firearms ban noting no weapon was used during any of the offences.
She also placed Thrasher on a year's probation after the completion of his sentence. Thrasher, who has complained bitterly during previous court appearances about not being allowed to wear shoes in court, was allowed to wear running shoes for his sentencing hearing.
Dressed in a blue hoodie and sweatpants, Thrasher made a long speech prior to being sentenced. He said he accepted the judge's decision to find him guilty and apologized to his victims.
