Man given probation, community service for uttering threats

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This article was published 05/08/2024 (192 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Community service workers are getting an extra set of hands after a Winnipeg man threatened to hurt his then-roommate.

Clayton Taylor, 28, pleaded guilty at provincial court in Steinbach on July 26 to uttering threats on Feb. 25, 2023, at David Dueck.

Taylor uttered the threats to cause bodily harm at Dueck after Dueck tried to move his property out of the area they had lived at together.

Additionally, half a year earlier on Oct. 6, 2022, Taylor pleaded guilty to simple assault and another case of uttering threats. He was given a one-day sentence with 18 months of supervised probation for each, which were served at the same time.

For the current matter, Crown attorney Jon Mays asked for a one-day court appearance and four days of custody, followed by a year of supervised probation. The Crown also asked for a no-contact order with Dueck, counselling and potentially even anger management.

Dueck had been living rent-free with Taylor but was eventually told to move out. Dueck did so but came back with friends to help him retrieve his property and his car.

Defence attorney Karl Gowenlock said Taylor heard people in his foyer around 7:30 p.m. where he found Dueck’s friends, who were highly intoxicated. He said that Taylor had asked them to leave, which they didn’t, saying they thought there was still some property in the house.

Taylor then chased them off the property, while yelling at them to get off his property or he’ll hurt them.

Gowenlock said Dueck recalled Taylor saying, “I am going to hurt you, I am serious, I’ve been charged before, if you don’t leave the property.”

“There’s really a lot of extenuating circumstances here, in which Mr. Taylor lost his temper, he used words which he knows he shouldn’t use in those circumstances,” Gowenlock said. “He could’ve with just slightly different word choice essentially still got them to leave the property.”

“If he had kept his temper a bit more at the time, used better judgment, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Judge Kusham Sharma sentenced Taylor to 12 months of supervised probation, along with 30 hours of community service, which Taylor has nine months to complete.

“I don’t think you were in the wrong to be angry, I don’t think people should be coming into your house, and I think probably Mr. Dueck recognizes he didn’t handle it the best way himself,” said Sharma. “But that doesn’t mean you get to say anything you want or act like this, you don’t get to do that.”

Along with the other penalties, Sharma handed Taylor a no-contact order with Dueck. Surcharges were waived.

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