The suspect who was arrested in a highly-publicized high-risk arrest in the Riverview neighbourhood last August was sentenced Tuesday in Provincial Court in North Battleford.
Trent Angus received a total of six months after pleading guilty to two counts: one of obstruction of a peace officer in connection to the Riverview incident of Aug. 25, while the other was a count of being unlawfully at large.
Judge Dan O’Hanlon imposed sentences of three months each for each count, to be applied consecutively.
Angus is currently serving time in the federal system. A new statutory release date of March 7 was set for his current sentence; the six months will be added on consecutive to that. Victims surcharges were imposed as well.
All other charges are withdrawn against Angus. Among the charges stayed were the two most serious counts he faced out of Wetaskiwin, Alta., of break and enter and aggravated assault. Those counts stemmed from a robbery incident in Wetaskiwin in May, 2018, which Angus has alleged he had nothing to do with.
Following that incident, a Canada-wide warrant was issued for Angus’s arrest for a statutory release violation.
According to the facts outlined by the Crown in court, it was on Aug. 25 that the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team was called to arrest Angus at a residence on the 500 block of 103rd Street.
Angus was identified as being inside the residence after being spotted leaning out of a window, and a photo of him was taken to confirm his ID.
The decision was made at around 4:55 p.m. that afternoon to make the arrest.
The Emergency Response Team was positioned around the house on 103rd Street, and Angus was told by police by loudhailer that he was under arrest and to surrender peacefully. He refused to come out of the house, however, until much later at 8:45 p.m., at which point he finally exited and was arrested without incident.
A trial was scheduled on his Saskatchewan charges for Nov. 26 in provincial court, but that did not go ahead. Instead, Crown prosecutor Mitch Piche and defence counsel Nic Stooshinoff made a joint submission on sentence before Judge O’Hanlon on Tuesday.
Both called for the six-month sentence, which Piche said was on the higher end of the range.
In court Tuesday, Stooshinoff noted that none of Angus’s prior offences involved serious harm. Stooshinoff also noted that while the RCMP were concerned and took serious steps with the use of the Emergency Response Team, “it’s my suspicion and belief that was in relation to the Wetaskiwin charges,” which were stayed, he said.
Respecting the Wetaskwin robbery incident, Stooshinoff said Angus “wasn’t aware of any of this business in Wetaskiwin” and “denied knowledge of it.”
As for the deployment of the Emergency Response Team, Stooshinoff said it seemed like an extreme response to the situation.
The police had grounds to be concerned, Stooshinoff said, but there was no indication Angus was a violent individual.
While the lawyers appeared in North Battleford court in person for the sentencing, Angus made his appearance from jail by closed-circuit TV. In imposing sentence, Judge O’Hanlon told Angus it was up to him to decide whether to stay out of the penitentiary.
“You have to decide you don’t want to go back when you get out, sir,” said O’Hanlon.
