A man who brandished machetes during a confrontation near tent city in Nanaimo in the summer of 2018 won’t spend any time in jail.
William Robert Francis Carrigan, 56, was one of two Discontent City residents who were charged with assault- and weapons-related offences after they confronted a group of people shining laser pointers at the homeless encampment from a parkade across the street, on the night of Aug. 3, 2018. Carrigan pulled out a pair of machetes in the incident, while Shane Edward Steinhauer, 43, was found in possession of a kitchen cleaver.
On Thursday, Carrigan pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose via a joint submission from Melissa Lowe and Ken Paziuk, respective defence and Crown counsels. Judge Brian Harvey sentenced Carrigan to a six-month conditional sentence order, or a jail sentence served in the community.
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As part of the sentence order, Carrigan will be required to remain in B.C., unless permission is given, and is forbidden from possessing knives, except for food preparation, eating or employment. He is also forbidden from being in contact with Steinhauer and must complete 30 hours of community service by Feb. 28.
Carrigan also pleaded guilty to a mischief $5,000 or under charge from this past Feb. 25. The incident occurred near the Nanaimo RCMP detachment, where Carrigan was arguing with someone and threw a rock at their vehicle, which unintentionally smashed the back window of an occupied RCMP vehicle. He was subsequently arrested.
Paziuk submitted a conviction list to Harvey with offences from 2010 to 2019 and Lowe said her client suffers from numerous health issues, including fibromyalgia, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. In addition, he is expected to have surgery to repair damage to tendons in his finger.
At the conclusion of the sentence order, Carrigan will be on probation, with similar conditions, for an additional six months and will have to complete an additional 30 hours of community service by July 31.
Steinhauer was sentenced to time served by Judge Ted Gouge on Wednesday in provincial court in Nanaimo.
Crown directed a stay of proceedings for the assault charge against Carrigan.