On the night of Oct. 8, 2017 Jared Healey made a choice that will see him spend the next two years of his life in jail.
Healey, 22, was the driver of the car used in an armed home invasion that took place in Reidville.
He’s one of four Deer Lake men to be charged with the crime and the third to be sentenced.
Related story:
Tanner Healey sentenced to five years in jail for Reidville home invasion
Judge Catherine Allen-Westby handed down the two-year sentence, to be followed by three years of probation, in provincial court in Corner Brook on Thursday. It was a joint sentence submission presented by Crown attorney Trina Simms and Julia Smart, Healey’s lawyer.
As the court heard during sentencings for Ricky Halfyard and Tanner Healey, who is Jared Healey’s brother, the home invasion came after a day of heavy drug use and was aimed at robbing a man who owed Halfyard money.
Healey drove the three other men to the house. He told police he got dragged into it for no reason and was just following along.
He had a choice to join or leave, and stayed, said Simms while reading out the facts of the case. The others had been doing cocaine, but Healey had only been using marijuana and was considered the soberest of the group.
According to a pre-sentence report Healey’s young life had been troubled and he began using drugs in his teens. The court was told by Smart that he has not used cocaine in six months and entered a methadone program on his own.
She said he is remorseful for his actions, which was evident through his own demeanor during the sentencing hearing. Healey was nervous and visible upset as the events of the night were recalled. He knew he would be going to jail at the end of the hearing.
“The reason that everything happened was out of fear,” he said when Allen-Westby asked if he had anything to say.
“I was unsure of the circumstances of everything that was going on that night.
“I was just scared for my own life.
“I know I shouldn’t have been driving the car.”
In accepting the joint submission, Allen-Westby said she was satisfied the role Healey played, though serious, was significantly less than his co-accused.
She said at 22 he is capable of being rehabilitated.
Healey must also comply with a DNA order and will be subject to a firearms prohibition for a period of 10 years. And he has to pay a $200 victim fine surcharge to the court.
The terms of his probation include having no contact with Halfyard and the fourth co-accused Dylan Ryan.
It will be up to his supervisor to determine if contact with his brother, who was noted as being a negative influence on him, will be allowed.
Halfyard, 29, and Tanner Healey, 23, were each sentenced to five years in jail for their part in the home invasion. Both men entered the home with their faces covered and with weapons.
Ryan has elected to be tried in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador. The 20-year-old has requested a preliminary inquiry, which will take place in provincial court on July 6.
