A Gibsons resident is to serve a conditional sentence in the community and one year of probation for three offences committed between July and October 2023 in Sechelt.
Blair Evan Singh Mcleod was sentenced for the crimes of mischief, break and enter as well as possession and use of a stolen credit card by Judge Steven Merrick in Sechelt provincial court on May 1.
Mcleod entered guilty pleas to those counts. The Crown and defence made a joint submission on sentencing.
A conditional sentence order of 60 days was imposed on Mcleod for an Aug. 18, 2023, break and enter into a business located on Sechelt Inlet Crescent. Crown counsel Tim McKelvey stated Mcleod was recorded on CCTV footage using an object to pry open a door, then leaving the premises with a bin. Employees of that business reported to RCMP the bin contained a laptop computer and other items worth about $1,300.
Concurrent with that sentence, Mcleod is to serve a 10-day conditional sentence for removing a bank card from an unsecured vehicle parked at Sechelt | shíshálh Hospital on Oct. 9, 2023. He was recorded on CCTV taking the card, and recordings also showed him using it at two downtown Sechelt gas stations for a total of $101, according to McKelvey’s submission.
Merrick suspended sentencing on a third charge. The Crown submitted that on July 29, 2023, an individual reported to Sunshine Coast RCMP an encounter with a man, later identified as Mcleod, inside a secured area of a commercial storage company on Wharf Avenue. The witness reported the perpetrator was rummaging through semi-open lockers, appearing to be “high." Mcleod was arrested at the scene before he had an opportunity to remove any items. Defence attorney Darcy Lawrence told the court his client was under the influence of drugs when that incident occurred and did not recall what happened.
Multiple conditions on his release
The conditional sentences and Mcleod’s probation order include no-contact orders relating to the victims of the offences. A curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily, abstaining from recreational alcohol and drugs, participation in counselling and a ban on possession of break-in tools are additional conditions.
Charges were stayed for another offence related to the theft of shoes (later recovered) from a Gibsons retailer. Mcleod was given an order not to attend that or the two Sechelt commercial locations where he committed offences. That order was applied to both his conditional sentence and probation periods.
In sentencing, the judge took mitigating factors into consideration, including Mcleod’s entry of guilty pleas to the three charges, his participation in counselling programs for his addiction issues, his work as a peer-counsellor with others experiencing impacts from substance use, and the fact that he has secured stable housing.
Mcleod told the court he was making plans to attend a residential addictions treatment program and that he hoped to work in the area of addictions recovery with the shíshálh Nation in the future.
“I wish you all the best”, Merrick responded. The judge also did not impose victim service charges on McLeod, noting his financial position was "precarious."
