BY KEITH LACEY
A young man with no previous criminal record was prohibited from owning or possessing any knife, firearm or other prohibited weapon for five years after being found guilty Monday of carrying a knife into a downtown bar.
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Phillip Savignac, 20, was found guilty of possessing a knife, but not guilty of assault with a weapon following a full-day trial Monday at the Sudbury Courthouse.
Savignac was accused of exposing a knife to a bouncer following an incident 10 months ago.
Justice William Fitzgerald ruled he believed Savignac did indeed carry a knife that evening, but found him not guilty of assaulting the bouncer, who forcefully removed him after observing the knife in his hand.
Fitzgerald gave Savignac the opportunity to avoid a criminal record by granting a conditional discharge and 12 months of probation. If Savignac stays out of trouble for the next year, he will not have any criminal record.
Fitzgerald ruled he believed the testimony of the first bouncer who got into a dispute with Savignac after closing time Feb. 15.
Savignac testified he has never owned a knife and did not pull expose one after getting into a verbal confrontation with one the bouncer, who Savignac believed was making a pass at his teenage girlfriend.
Â?IÂ?ve never seen that knife beforeÂ?thatÂ?s the first time,Â? said Savignac, when the alleged weapon was produced for the court.
Savignac admitted he uttered a verbal insult at the bouncer, but never exposed a knife and was physically assaulted by the bouncer.
The bouncer sadmitted he grabbed Savignac violently and moved him outside the bar after the 20-year-old flashed a knife at him after he told SavignacÂ?s girlfriend and other customers it was time to leave as it was almost 2:45 am.
Savignac admitted he was drunk and called the bouncer Â?a fagÂ?, which resulted in the bouncer grabbing him with both hands around the neck and throwing him violently against an outside door.
The impact of being thrown into the door knocked him unconscious and he didnÂ?t remember talking to police officers who arrived within minutes and placed him under arrest, said Savignac.
A second bouncer testified he saw his co-worker and Savignac get into a verbal and then physical dispute and he tried to assist his fellow bouncer when he also saw a small black knife in SavignacÂ?s hand.
After the other bouncer threw Savignac outside, he tried to dislodge the knife from SavignacÂ?s hand by stepping on his forearm with extreme force, he said.
Savignac originally wouldnÂ?t drop the knife, but finally did when he applied sufficient force, he said.
Fitzgerald ruled he didnÂ?t believe much of the second bouncerÂ?s testimony.
SavignacÂ?s girlfriend gave the same version of events as her boyfriend, stating she has never known him to carry a knife and she never saw him pull one out or brandish a knife at any time.
The only time she saw a knife is when the second bouncer produced it for police officers, she said.
The bouncer used excessive force to remove her boyfriend as he was able to lift SavignacÂ?s 160-pound frame off the ground while squeezing him around the neck with both hands, she said.
A male friend of SavignacÂ?s also testified he never saw his friend ever possess a knife and never witnessed him produce one at the bar.
When assistant Crown attorney Guy Roy suggested to Savignac and his male friend they were too drunk to remember exactly what happened, they both denied it, although each admitted to drinking 10 to 12 beer that night.
Defence counsel Donald Plaunt asked Fitzgerald to find Savignac not guilty on both charges, stating his evidence and that of his girlfriend and male friend was every bit as convincing as that of the two bouncers.
Savignac may have been guilty of being intoxicated and being confrontational, but thereÂ?s not sufficient proof to determine he pulled a knife or assaulted anyone that evening, he said.
Roy disagreed stating the evidence of the two bouncers was convincing and their version of events is the only one that is accurate.
ThereÂ?s no good reason why the bouncers would rough up Savignac, a young man neither had never met, for no reason, said Roy.
The testimony of SavignacÂ?s girlfriend and male friend was simply confirming SavignacÂ?s own testimony and didnÂ?t hold much credibility, he said.
