GRAND BANK, NL – A 60-year-old Red Harbour man has been sentenced to incarceration for two years less a day on charges of criminal harassment.
Lorne Hedley Butler, also known as “Eddie,” was sentenced at provincial court in Grand Bank March 7 for criminally harassing a Burin physician and her family over a period of four years.
In his written decision on sentencing, Judge Harold Porter stated Butler had criminally harassed the woman by often passing by her home and staring into the house, following her into a travel agency where he had no business, and showing up at the clinic where she worked without sufficient reason to be there.
Butler also had confrontations with the woman’s spouse in Burin and in the grocery store in Marystown.
“The police had spoken to (Butler) several times and had asked him to stay away from her and her family,” Judge Porter wrote in his sentencing decision. “Despite this, he persisted.”
According to court documents, the woman kept a journal reflecting 26 contacts with Butler in four years.
Impact on victim
Judge Porter wrote in his decision that based on the victim impact statement and evidence given during the sentencing hearing, “there is no doubt that the criminal harassment … has had a profound effect on her.
“She described the experience of trying to cope with the harassment as a four-year nightmare. It has left her in a state where she is afraid to be home alone, and where they keep the doors of their home locked, even when they are at home.”
The harassment caused both the complainant and her husband to miss work, and she had to attend counselling.
“All of the family, spouse and children, have been negatively impacted by the actions of the accused,” Judge Porter wrote.
He also wrote that the victim had been reluctant to have a charge laid against Butler.
“She tried other means of communicating to the accused that his attention was unwelcome,” the judge wrote. “She asked the police to speak to him, which they did, to no avail. She had her husband speak to him, again, to no avail. Having exhausted these avenues, when he went into her clinic, she was left with no choice but to have the accused arrested.”
Accused had criminal record
Butler is not a first-time offender, although there are significant gaps in his criminal record, the judge wrote. He has prior convictions for breaking and entering, resisting arrest, uttering threats, failure to appear in court and mischief.
According to the judge’s decision, Butler “has no insight into the impact of the criminal harassment on the complainant and her family.
He added that in a pre-sentencing report, the accused denies having committed any offence.
“The accused said that he ‘felt sorry’ for the victim, and he apologized ‘for the way she is feeling,’” wrote Judge Porter.
“It is clear that the accused does not admit that what he did was wrong; he did not apologize for what he did, but he said he was sorry for how the complainant was feeling.”
Judge Porter wrote that Butler said he did not want to hurt anyone, and that he is willing to stay out of Burin except to go to the hospital there.
In the report, Butler is quoted as saying, “we have to put all of this behind us.” He was also quoted as saying he hoped the victim would be at peace.
Butler explained that his wife is unwell and he has a lot of things to do at their home in Red Harbour, and that he would comply with probation.
Despite this, the judge wrote that “There is little reason to be optimistic as to his future behaviour.”
Butler was sentenced to two years less a day, less credit for time spent on remand. With credit for time served he will serve just short of two years, followed by a period of three years under supervised probation.
While in custody, Butler is to have no contact or communication with the complainant or any member of her family.
A DNA order has been made, and Butler is prohibited from possession of all firearms, ammunition and explosive substances for 10 years, and from possession of restricted and prohibited firearms, ammunition and explosives for life.
A victim surcharge of $200 has also been ordered.
