A Sudbury man with a long record of violent assaults has been sentenced to six months in jail on top of one month he?s already been behind bars for spraying two people with bear spray outside a downtown bar last November.
Garnet Gilbert, 21, pleaded guilty to possession of a dangerous weapon (bear spray, a form of pepper spray) and two counts of assault with a weapon.
After closing time at a downtown bar, Gilbert and another man ?worked in tandem? and assaulted a number of victims. The included a young man and woman who were hit in the face area with bear spray out of a canister Gilbert had in his possession, said assistant Crown attorney Fran Howe.
The man was also struck with the canister holding the bear spray, said Howe. Both had to be transported to hospital.
Two others were sprayed, but Gilbert was not involved in those assaults, said Howe.
A veteran police officer told Howe, as part of the investigation, that bear spray registers ?nine out 10? on a scale measuring pain and discomfort, said
Howe.
?Being sprayed with this stuff is not a minor annoyance,? she said.
Howe noted Gilbert has an atrocious record of violence for a young man only 21 years of age. These convictions are his sixth and seventh for assault or
assault with a weapon.
?This is not a person who should be wandering about with a weapon in his possession,? said Howe.
There was a wild brawl outside of the bar and not everything that happened was Gilbert?s fault, but using pepper spray against two people is not the
way to handle such a situation, said Howe.
Gilbert faces other charges of violence in relation to another incident. A trial date in relation to those charges will be set next Wednesday.
