BY KEITH LACEY
Phil Boudreault?s sad decline from Olympian to hardened criminal was completed Friday when he was found guilty of brutally assaulting a father and son during a bar fight nine months ago.
Four hours after Justice Ian Gordon ruled Boudreault was guilty of assault and aggravated assault, assistant Crown attorney Len Walker told the court he will be seeking a dangerous offender application against Boudreault.
The Crown will seek the advice of the regional director of Crown attorneys before deciding whether to seek permission from the Attorney General?s office to bring the dangerous application forward, said Walker.
The Crown will have a final decision on the dangerous offender application when the case resumes Feb. 10. If a decision is made not to go forward with the dangerous offender application, Boudreault?s sentencing hearing will take place on that date. If the Crown does proceed, a dangerous offender hearing date will have to be set.
The Crown will be seeking a five-year penitentiary term if the dangerous offender application doesn?t proceed, said Walker. Boudreault, 31, a national champion amateur boxer, represented Canada at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
Two weeks ago, he pleaded guilty to threatening violence and intimidation for uttering threats against two Greater Sudbury Police officers during a bail hearing last April.
Boudreault was given a sentence of time served after serving nearly nine months behind bars since his arrest.
Because his pre-trial time in jail was applied to the April charges, Boudreault will not be given any credit for time served for Friday?s convictions.
Gordon?s decision came following a three-day trial in December. Gordon ruled he was convinced Boudreault was the man responsible for the bar attack, which resulted in the father suffering a fractured jaw and other serious injuries.
Boudreault showed little emotion after the verdict was read as he shrugged his shoulders and turned around and smiled at his girlfriend.
Walker said the verdict was a just one.
?The evidence was overwhelmingly with the Crown,? he said.
A key Crown witness who was at the bar that night, and knew Boudreault well, was a strong witness, Gordon said.
However, evidence provided by a key defence witness was not credible or reliable, Gordon ruled. The man testified Boudreault had left the bar the night in question two hours before the violence erupted. The witness also claimed he was the man responsible for assaulting the son and punching
and kicking the father.
Gordon didn?t believe the testimony of the witness. His credibility was questioned because he was a good friend of Boudreault?s, has a long criminal record, and came forward late in proceedings to declare he was responsible for the violence.
The man also didn?t match the physical description provided by the father who was assaulted, said Gordon.
