ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Telegram
A Carbonear man charged with a violent home invasion - which saw him and his accomplice leave their weapons at the scene - will be sentenced in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John's next week.
If Justice Sandra Chaytor accepts a joint submission from the Crown and defence lawyers, 53-year-old Paul Hanlon is looking at a seven-year prison sentence for a total of 10 charges.
Hanlon has two sets of charges before the court: six related to the September 2017 home invasion and four firearms-related offences, laid almost a year later.
He was scheduled to go to trial on some of those this week, but changed his pleas to guilty at the last minute.
Through two agreed statements of fact, the court heard Friday afternoon that Hanlon, co-accused Rocky Nicholson and a third person who acted as a driver went to the home of a Victoria man on Sept. 3, 2017, wearing masks and armed with baseball bats.
They kicked in the front door and, while the driver stayed outside, Hanlon and Nicholson went to the living room, where the man and a friend were watching TV.
The two accused began hitting the men with baseball bats and continued beating them until one of the victims managed to overtake them both.
During the altercation Hanlon's and Nicholson's masks - one of which was a Halloween skull face - came off.
The masks, which were later recovered by RCMP officers, were found to contain Hanlon and Nicholson's DNA.
The two accused left the home and were taken to hospital by the driver to be treated for injuries. That's where they were arrested.
One of the victims suffered a laceration on his chin that required stitches and a cut on the back of his head; the other had significant wounds to his ear and leg that also needed stitches.
Both men had been warned before the incident that Hanlon or someone else was coming for them.
"They received a visit from the accused a few days prior, inquiring about some contraband drugs of his that had gone missing," prosecutor Richard Deveau told the court.
As well, while Hanlon was in custody and ordered to have no contact with the victims, he called one of them and left a voicemail, saying, "Get it, got it, good."
Nicholson was found guilty at trial of charges related to the home invasion, and is set to be sentenced next month.
In June 2018, having been released from custody to await trial, Hanlon was approached by an undercover police officer as part of an unrelated investigation. Hanlon brought the officer to a vehicle and asked him to get in, showing the officer a quantity of marijuana and telling him he kept his contraband in the car so police couldn't prove it was his. He also showed the officer a sawed-off .22 calibre rifle.
He was arrested two hours later and police obtained a warrant to search the car, finding the gun.
Deveau and defence lawyer Kevin Baker have presented a joint submission for a seven-year total prison sentence for Hanlon. Chaytor will deliver her sentencing decision on Monday.