GRAND MANAN MEN SENTENCED

ST. ANDREWS -- Two Grand Manan men will spend the next year under
house arrest for their part in setting fire to a house during a
confrontation that turned ugly this summer between island residents
and a suspected drug dealer and his friends.

As well, Lloyd Stanley Bainbridge, 31, and Michael Dean Small, 27,
have each been ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution, for a total of
$10,000, within the next three months to Ronnie Ross, the owner of
the suspected crack house that was eventually burned to the ground July 22.

Matthew Herbert Lambert, 27, who was found guilty of possession of a
weapon, a flare gun, dangerous to the public peace, was ordered by
Mr. Justice Hugh McLellan to spend the next six months under house arrest.

Carter Wayne Foster, 25, found guilty of unsafe storage of a weapon,
was granted a conditional discharge and placed on six months
probation with an order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
Mr. Justice McLellan told Foster that he would not have a criminal
record at the end of his probation if he abided by the conditions.

A fifth man charged in connection with the events of that night was
found not guilty at the conclusion of a jury trial that lasted two
and a half weeks in November. Small and Bainbridge were remanded on
Nov. 18 until their sentencing hearing Monday with Lambert and Foster
at the historic Charlotte County Court House in St. Andrews.

During Monday's sentencing hearing, Mr. Justice McLellan said he
wanted to emphasize to the four men how fortunate it was that nobody
was killed during the events that transpired July 22.

Calling this incident a "tragic case," Mr. Justice McLellan said he
wanted to "emphasize as politely, plainly and clearly as words
permit," that if "any one of those people had been killed, you would
be looking at years, and years and years in the penitentiary."

In handing down the sentences to the four men, the judge said he took
into account the time they had already spent in jail pending their
bail and sentencing hearings, as well as the time they were under
house arrest waiting for their trial to begin.

Under an established formula, which allows credit of double time for
jail remand time and half time for house arrest time, Foster was
calculated to have spent the equivalent of 93 days in jail.

Mr. Justice McLellan said, in his view, Foster's cumulative sentence
was disproportionate to the gravity of the specific charge upon which
he was found guilty, noting that in many New Brunswick courtrooms,
individuals facing sentencing on a similar charge receive minor fines.

Crown prosecutor James McAvity, who with Crown prosecutor Randy
DiPaolo, prosecuted the case, told the judge he was not seeking
forfeiture of Foster's weapons, a condition that commonly accompanies
a fine under this particular charge.

Lambert, under the same remand calculations, was given credit for 91
days in jail, his actual remand time of 18 days, plus 109 days of
house arrest. Small was credited with 118 days, a combination of 19
days in jail before his bail hearing, 91 days of house arrest before
the trial and 17 days in jail since he was found guilty.

Bainbridge was credited with having already served 99 days in jail, a
calculation of his 10 days remanded before the bail hearing, 90 days
of house arrest and 17 days remanded until the sentence hearing.

Defense lawyer David Lutz told the judge "these men have learned an
extremely important life lesson" after being involved in the events
of July 22 and the consequences, which followed.

Lutz told the court that the events that happened that night are in
no way to be condoned and said the incident evolved from a situation
that no one thought through. He said the men on trial were young,
compared to the age of some of the men there that night, and said in
this instance, "they listened to their elders when for once in their
lives they shouldn't have."

During the sentence hearing, McAvity called the case "unique" where
events not planned "clearly spun out of control."

He said that hopefully no one would ever have to deal with a similar
set of circumstances, adding that it was, "nothing short of a miracle
that no one was killed or seriously injured" in the fights and fires
that occurred that night.

McAvity urged the judge to hand down sentences that did not in any
way condone the activity that ultimately led to the five men being
charged, but then asked that the court temper its sentence with mercy.

That night in July, a group of 30 to 40 people gathered at the home
of Carter Foster on Cedar Street to keep an eye on a home of a
suspected drug dealer who had visitors from Saint John.

These visitors had been rumoured to be on Grand Manan Island to burn
down the homes of the people on a "hit list."

The islanders said their gathering was to be a "peaceful
intervention," but it got out of hand after a fight ensued between
Ross and Foster.

Gunshots were fired from Ross' side of the road, which led to what
was described by the judge as "defensive or suppressive fire from
people on the other side of the road."

The events of that night appeared to have been precipitated by the
burning of a vehicle sitting on Ross' driveway a few weeks earlier.

When things appeared to have calmed down with the arrival of the
police on the scene July 22, Lambert's firing of a flare gun, whose
flare hit Ross in the leg and set fire to his porch, "escalated a bad
situation" according to the judge.

Judge McLellan said the nation's legal system discourages events that
lead to the escalation of violence.

He noted that Lutz had said during the trial that "a man's gotta do
what a man's gotta do," but added "a man has got to keep himself
under particularly tight discipline and avoid escalating violence."

The judge noted a case in 1786 when a Loyalist settler who lived just
above Fredericton was hanged for shooting an Indian that he thought
was stealing his hog during a commotion that awakened him one
evening. The man was convicted for escalating the level of violence.

That case, said the judge, represents "the longstanding aversion in
our legal system for escalating violence."

All four men spoke to the court before the judge handed down their sentences.

Foster told the judge he was "very sorry" things got out of control that night.

"It was meant to be a peaceful intervention," stated Foster.

Lambert told the judge he was "truly sorry" that someone was hurt as
the result of his actions and that "things got out of control."

Bainbridge told the judge he was very sorry for his actions and that
it was very unnecessary that things got out of control.

Small stated he never intended that night for things to get out of
control the way they did.

Judge McLellan noted in the victim impact statement from Ross that he
still suffers from pain from the injury he suffered to his right leg
from the flare fired by Lambert.

Ross, 42, said his leg pains when the weather is damp and cold and
when he goes for short walks.

In his statement, Ross said he has nightmares about the incident July
22 and wakes in a cold sweat when he thinks of people setting fire to
the house in which he now lives. He said he suffers from low
self-esteem and feels people look down on him.

Ross said "these criminals" have ruined his reputation and he worries
about where he will get a job and rebuild his life.

Again referring to the five accused as "these criminals" Ross said
they took everything from him, except his life.

Judge McLellan said that it was difficult to calculate the amount of
the restitution order. While the home that burned was " a modest
house" it was "still the home of Mr. Ross."

The judge set the restitution at half the value of the house and
property, which was determined in earlier court proceedings to be $20,000.

The house arrest the judge imposed on the three men means they are to
be in their homes on Grand Manan except for travelling to and from
work, being at work or for approved absences to go to church,
doctors' appointments or for groceries.

None is allowed to consume alcohol or non-prescribed drugs. They all
must keep the peace and be of good behaviour, and must cooperate with
their sentence supervisors.