SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — A New Annan man pleaded guilty to threatening a man and his mother with repeated instant messages.
Tyler Dean Dunphy, 27, was charged with three instances of uttering threats
On Oct. 10, Dunphy started sending instant messages to the woman around 3 a.m. saying he was going to kill her son and burn her house down, Crown attorney John Diamond told the court.
The threatening messages continued until 9:30 a.m. when Dunphy asked where her son was and then requested her address.
“I will kill your woman-beating son and then I’ll kill myself,” the Crown read.
Previously, on Sept. 12, Dunphy had sent similar messages to the woman’s son.
He messaged the man’s Facebook account and asked him to met up so Dunphy could cut off his hands.
“If you don’t meet up with me I’ll just kill your mother,” the Crown read to the court.
Dunphy told police he was just having a bad night and the man was not in danger. He had been drinking and found out the male victim was dating his ex-girlfriend.
Dunphy said that night he snorted meth for the first time and blacked out for three days. He doesn’t remember threatening the mother, he only knows he did because of the messages in his Facebook account.
Dunphy, who represented himself, said he had recently completed detox.
“I’m getting help. I’m trying.”
Judge Krista MacKay said the threats had a significant impact on the female victim.
“Clearly you have petrified this woman,” said MacKay after reading a victim impact statement.
She also noted that the threats occurred two times, a month apart.
“That tells me there is some kind of ongoing (issue) and this is not a one-off, bad night situation. There’s more than just that,” said MacKay.
She sentenced Dunhpy to 24 months of probation, where he will wear an electronic monitoring bracelet at the discretion of his probation officer. He must also stay away from the man and his mother and write a letter of apology to both victims.
Alison Jenkins is a local journalism initiative reporter, a position funded by the federal government.
