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A judge has sentenced a New Brunswick man to over two and a half years in prison for a violent, unprovoked attack which put a Shediac musician in hospital in March.
Moncton provincial court Judge Ami Assignon accepted a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers on Friday for a sentence of two years and 7½ months for 43-year-old Luke Powers.
With time already served, Powers has just under two years remaining on his sentence.
According to an agreed statement of facts read at the hearing, Powers assaulted John McLaren on March 14 outside Happy Brewing in downtown Moncton, where McLaren had just finished performing.
Shortly before midnight that night, Powers followed McLaren outside. The two men, who knew each other, conversed briefly.
Shediac musician John McLaren had just performed at Happy Brewing before his acquaintance Luke Powers assaulted him on March 14. (CBC)
Then Powers punched McLaren, knocking him to the ground. Powers went on to punch McLaren 11 more times before running away.
Passersby then saw McLaren lying unconscious and called police.
WATCH | ‘I’m happy that I’m alive,’ assault victim says:
Man gets 2½-year sentence for violent attack in downtown Moncton
A judge has sentenced a man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a local musician outside a downtown bar earlier this year.
McLaren was brought to the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre where he was assessed with a broken cheekbone, broken jaw and possible severe brain injury. He was unresponsive and placed into a medically induced coma.
When Powers was later located and arrested by police, he told them he had been drinking heavily, had not slept for some time and could not remember clearly what happened.
‘Almost unexplainable’
Powers’s lawyer, David Manuel, said at the hearing that Powers had considered McLaren a friend.
“It is almost unexplainable in a sense,” said Manuel.
Powers had “a number of stressors in his life that had nothing to do with Mr. McLaren,” said Manuel.
“Alcohol very much was a factor,” he added, noting that Powers was due to start an alcohol dependency counselling program this fall.
Powers read a statement at the sentencing hearing, stating his remorse for his actions, particularly his decision to drink heavily on the day of the assault.
He also apologized directly to McLaren.
History of violence
After the hearing, McLaren said he felt Powers could have gotten a harsher sentence, considering his history of violence.
In 2014, Powers admitted attacking three people with a knife at Eastern College in Fredericton.
After a psychological assessment he was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Powers was ordered to reside at the province’s psychiatric hospital in Campbellton where he was treated for anxiety, depression, a neurological disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 2018, he was released under conditions and moved to Moncton.
Review board chair Lyne Raymond said at the time that Powers still posed “a significant threat to the public, but hospitalization is not necessary if he is in a part of a structured team with services.”
The board reaffirmed that decision in 2019.
Lack of criminal record a mitigating factor
Powers underwent another psychiatric assessment this summer, but the results of that assessment are under a publication ban.
The 2014 attack was not mentioned during Friday’s hearing, though Assignon said she had considered a pre-sentence report outlining Powers’s background.
Assignon said she considered Powers’s expression of remorse, his guilty plea, and his lack of criminal record as mitigating factors in his sentence.
She also noted aggravating factors, including the unprovoked nature of the attack and the severity of the injuries perpetrated by Powers.
‘Psychological battle’
McLaren said he has physically recovered from his injuries but is still suffering the effects of the assault.
Shediac musician John McLaren says he is happy to be alive, but it’s been hard not to think about the assault that put him in the hospital. (Pascal Raiche-Nogue/Radio-Canada)
It’s a “psychological battle,” he said.
“Somebody almost beats you to death … and it’s hard to not think about that some days.
“It was just such a random, crazy moment for anyone to deal with.
“So I’m just grateful to be alive and grateful to be here.”
McLaren returned to his music career in the summer and is now touring with a new album, which was recorded before the assault.