A local man was convicted Monday of two years of domestic violence offenses that took place in Alberta when he appeared at a Sault Ste. Maria Court. Nathaniel Lawrence pleaded guilty to three charges, which were brought here from Edmonton, Ontario Court. The 43-year-old admitted assaulting the victim on August 14, 2020, choking and suffocating him in his flat, breaking the glass in a fire extinguisher and failing to appear in court on December 14, 2020. He was sentenced to six months of house arrest, a sentence recommended jointly by the Crown and the defence. He was also placed on probation for 12 months. Judge Melanie Dunn heard the defendant became “extremely angry” when the woman asked if he was going to eat his dinner. Lawrence had been drinking and using drugs, said prosecutor David Dinodato. “He pushed her down, put her in a headlock and started choking her.” The choking continued for some time and involved enough force that her voice was cracked and she had trouble speaking, the assistant Crown attorney said. When the woman indicated she was going to call the police, he became even angrier. Scared of him, she ran out of the apartment and escaped to a neighbor’s unit. Lawrence was in a “bit of a rage” and smashed a glass cover on a fire extinguisher in the hallway with his fist. He had left the area when police arrived. Officers noticed visible redness on the victim’s neck, Didiodato said. When Lawrence was later arrested, he had small bandaged cuts on his arm. Solicitor Wayne Chorney told the court the father-of-two had been involved in a serious car accident in 1996 and suffered a life-threatening brain injury At the time of the incident in Edmonton, he was not only under the effects of that trauma, but also heavily under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and was “at one point living on the street,” the defense said. His parents brought him home to Sault Ste. Mari, now heavily involved with his church, participates in a behavior modification group and undergoes cognitive-behavioral counseling. Lawrence also recently found a job. “He’s alcohol and drug free, living a clean life, living with his parents,” Chorney said. “He’s off substances that were slowly killing him.” Didiodato said the defendant has a criminal record with convictions dating back to 2019 in Edmonton that include assault on a police officer, property offenses and failure to appear in court. The aggravating factor in that conviction is the domestic offenses that involved a “relatively violent assault,” he said, noting that Lawrence had also chased the woman down the hallway. He cited the short gap of two years since the offenses occurred, Lawrence’s employment and counseling at his church as mitigating factors. “A real prison sentence would have been warranted if not for what he did,” Didiodato said. Asked if he wanted to say anything to the court, Lawrence replied: “I think that’s enough and I agree with what my lawyer said.” He told Dunn his life changed. “I never want to go back to the life I was stuck in (while) in Edmonton.” The judge agreed that the defendant’s domestic violence offenses and criminal record are aggravating factors. Dunn said it sounds like Lawrence has a very supportive family that brought him home to the Sault. He has taken steps, is working and has a stable home environment. “With all these factors I have no hesitation” in imposing the proposed sentence, he said. During Lawrence’s six-month conditional sentence, he can only leave the house for medical emergencies, to go directly to and from employment, assessment, counseling and religious services. He must not communicate with the complainant and must not consume alcohol or intoxicating substances. Lawrence is also allowed outside of his residence from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday to procure the necessities of life. He is also banned from owning weapons for five years and must provide a DNA sample for the national registry.
