A Capreol man who, along with a co-accused, beat up a teenager he?d never met before, was spared a jail sentence Wednesday.
Court heard Joshua Leonard, 21, and his co-accused Luc Paquette, 23, attacked a teenager in Capreol in the late evening hours of Aug. 13, 2003.
Leonard will be under house arrest for six months. Paquette served the equivalent of a nine-month jail sentence after being found guilty of aggravated assault following trial.
The victim was sitting alone at a bench reading a magazine when he was approached by two strangers who demanded he turn over the magazine.
When he denied their request, he was attacked. The victim was assaulted brutally and violently with Leonard, who had no previous troubles with the law, doing most of the damage. The victim suffered a cracked facial bone and bruises and cuts to his face after receiving numerous punches and kicks.
Leonard told the court he was very sorry for what he did that night.
Justice William Fitzgerald called the incident ?a vicious assault? against an innocent young man. However, because Leonard has no previous record and
has shown remorse, a conditional sentence of house arrest for six months is appropriate, said Fitzgerald.
Leonard can?t leave his home except to go to work or unless he has written permission from his probation officer for the next six months. He was also prohibited from owning any weapons for 10 years, ordered to provide a DNA sample and prohibited from consuming alcohol during his sentence.
