Attempted murder case won't proceed against P.E.I. man who pleaded guilty to lesser charges
Owen MacDonald’s mental health played a role in the incident, court hears
The case against a Kings County man accused of attempted murder has been resolved in Georgetown with the 26-year-old pleading guilty to two charges, while the more serious charges against him were stayed.
Owen Daniel MacDonald was sentenced in provincial court on Thursday and received a total of four months in jail.
RCMP originally charged MacDonald with five counts: attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and dangerous driving.
But at an appearance in April, MacDonald offered a guilty plea to a common assault charge instead of assault causing bodily harm. He also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
The Crown accepted the pleas and stayed all the remaining charges.
The court heard that MacDonald and a person close to him had an argument on the day in question back in November. They then made amends and decided to go for a drive.
Struggles with mental health
MacDonald drove the two to the Greenwich area where they had a long conversation that again turned into an argument.
The woman asked MacDonald to take her home, but the situation escalated to MacDonald driving erratically — speeding, taking sharp turns and removing his eyes from the road — and speaking in "absurdities," according to an agreed statement of facts read in court.
MacDonald eventually stopped and physically forced the woman out of the vehicle, speeding off before she had fully exited the Jeep. She was injured and got a ride home from a couple who came across her on the road. She went to the hospital and to police in the following days.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident that same evening, police took MacDonald to the hospital under P.E.I.'s Mental Health Act.
I do want to get past this point in my life... so I can be a better person to myself and to the public— Owen Daniel MacDonald
That legislation allows officers to take a person to a facility for an involuntary medical examination if they have caused or are likely to cause harm to themselves or others because of a suspected mental disorder.
In this case, the court heard that MacDonald has struggled with his mental health for the better part of the past decade and has had multiple psychological evaluations.
Over a week later, MacDonald was out of hospital and the victim gave a statement about the incident to police. RCMP arrested MacDonald the same night, took him to jail and announced charges against him the next day.
When asked why such charges were laid against a person seemingly in mental health distress, P.E.I. RCMP told CBC News it does "not comment on mental health issues at any time."
"In this incident, RCMP responded to an initial call, the nature of the call lead to an investigation that resulted in the gathering of evidence; that evidence provided reasonable grounds to lay the charges as presented in our news release," the email reads.
"Those charges and the corresponding evidence are then placed before the courts and the legal process is engaged at that point. This is the same process that is followed in any incident where charges are brought forward."
'It does not excuse his conduct'
On Thursday, both the Crown and MacDonald's legal aid lawyer noted there was a clear connection between his deteriorating mental health and the incident that took place, but his lawyer did not ask for MacDonald to be evaluated as being potentially not criminally responsible.
"It does not excuse his conduct from the Crown's perspective," prosecutor Molly Murphy told the court. MacDonald's lawyer, Ben Campbell, said "there were a lot of complicated factors in this case."
The two submitted a joint sentencing proposal: MacDonald was to spend 120 days in jail, have no contact with the victim, be banned from driving for three years and would be on probation for two years.
Judge Nancy Orr expressed her hesitation with the sentence, but ultimately accepted the joint recommendation after all parties agreed the probation period would be upped to three years.
Orr raised concerns about MacDonald's previous inability to address his mental health issues and alcohol and drug use, but his lawyer said he has been on a better path since being released on bail in January. Campbell said this is the first time MacDonald will be on a court-ordered treatment plan.
"He hopes to maintain this again once he's released," the legal aid lawyer said.
MacDonald has a criminal record from a previous impaired driving incident.
Orr also asked questions about the length of custody, as past sentences for similar crimes in P.E.I. usually included more jail time.
But the Crown said many of those past cases involved serious collisions and that the primary focus of the sentence was the probation period, which MacDonald would hopefully embrace as a fresh start.
"I do want to get past this point in my life... and follow my period of probation so I can be a better person to myself and to the public," MacDonald told the judge when given the opportunity to speak.
"You have long-standing addiction, you have long-standing mental health issues," Orr said to MacDonald about his prior resistance to following treatment. "Failing to have done so in the past is a significant factor in why you are here today."
MacDonald is now back in jail to serve the remainder of his sentence.
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