NEW BRUNSWICK VIGILANTES AVOID GOING TO JAIL

Judge Gives Conditional Sentences In Attack On Alleged Crack Dealer

Four New Brunswick men at the centre of a violent vigilante uprising
against an alleged community drug dealer will not go to jail for their
crimes.

A New Brunswick judge handed out three conditional sentences and a
conditional discharge yesterday, five months after the men joined
rioters in attacking an unwelcome neighbour and burning his house to
the ground.

The four are residents of Grand Manan Island, a normally quiet fishing
community in the Bay of Fundy. Grand Manan erupted in violence on the
night of July 21 when a mob of up to 100 people marched on the home of
(redacted), an alleged cocaine dealer.

Claiming that Mr. (redacted) was running a crack house on the island, the
mob surrounded his property with baseball bats and guns.

Shots were fired at the house and also from it, back toward the rioters.

And although no one was seriously hurt in the attack, Mr. (redacted) himself
was beaten as he fled the island under a police escort.

The mob then set the house on fire and watched it burn to the ground,
forming a human chain around the property to prevent volunteer
firefighters from putting out the flames.

Grand Manan residents Carter Foster, Matthew Lambert, Michael Small,
Lloyd Bainbridge and Greg Guthrie were prosecuted for a variety of
vigilante offences in a sensational trial this fall. All but Mr.
Guthrie were convicted by a jury last month.

Yesterday, Mr. Small, 27, and Mr. Bainbridge, 31, -- each convicted of
arson -- received conditional sentences of one-year's worth of house
arrest. Each was also ordered to pay $5,000 restitution to Mr. (redacted).

Mr. Lambert, 27, received a conditional sentence of six months house
arrest for firing a flare gun during the melee.

Mr. Foster, 25, received a conditional discharge following a
conviction of improperly storing a firearm.

Each man had already served between two and five weeks in police
custody prior to sentencing.

Judge Hugh McLellan told the men before issuing the sentences that
they were lucky no one was killed in the attack. Otherwise, he said,
the four would have been sent to prison for a long time.

The defence lawyer said the sentences are not a signal that
authorities approve of what his clients did.

"I can say the young men have all acknowledged their criminal actions
that night and you are never going to hear from them again," said
lawyer David Lutz.

Prosecutor Jim McAvity said justice was done in the case.

"I think this has been a difficult case, one of the things people need
to know here is what the Crown set out to do was to make sure this
matter got before the court and got a full fair public hearing," said
Mr. McAvity.

Neither the men, nor their families, agreed to discuss the sentences
after the court hearing. All will now return to their lives on Grand
Manan, where they no longer share the island with (redacted).

He now lives in Nova Scotia.