Crown seeks eight years in prison for vicious jail stomping

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The Moncton Crown wants a lengthy prison term for a man who badly beat a fellow inmate at the Southeast Regional Correctional Centre in Shediac more than three years ago.

Mathieu Terrance Myers, 37, of Saint-Louis-de-Kent at the time of his arrest, was initially charged with attempting to murder Scott Patterson on Feb. 9, 2021, and also assaulting correctional officer Alyssa Beers during the same incident. He was to stand trial by judge and jury in September 2022 but the case was delayed multiple times and Myers changed lawyers.

He eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault instead of attempted murder and also admitted assaulting the guard.

A sentencing hearing was held before Court of King’s Bench Justice Christa Bourque on Wednesday, with Pierre Gionet representing the Crown and Alex Pate defending Myers, who was present in the prisoner’s box. Gionet asked for eight years in prison for the assault on Patterson and an additional year for the assault on the guard, while Pate asked for a total of five years for both.

The judge adjourned her decision until April 15 to consider the submissions.

Myers is serving an unrelated sentence with another five years to go, so whatever he gets for a sentence won’t even begin until years from now.

Gionet played a surveillance video of the assault at the jail. The vicious attack only lasted a few seconds, with Patterson knocked to the floor and stomped repeatedly. The court was informed the assault had a lasting effect on the victim, leaving him with permanent brain damage that has affected his memory, ability to speak and walk.

Pate said while the assault was “grisly” there is a context to the incident. He said the two men had an altercation while they were both free a few months earlier and then encountered each other in the same unit. The defence lawyer described them as “incompatible inmates” who should have been kept separated because of their history and said Myers’ attack of Patterson was a “pre-emptive” form of self-defence.

“This wasn’t a random attack,” the lawyer said.

Myers read a letter to the court where he elaborated on the circumstances, claiming Patterson had shot him a few months prior to the assault, leaving 20 pieces of bullet fragments in his arm. Myers was arrested for a home invasion a few days after the shooting and then encountered Patterson at the jail months later, where Patterson was remanded on drug trafficking allegations. Myers said when Patterson approached him, he reacted as if in a “fight or flight” situation and attacked.

“I understand what I did was wrong and I wish I could change it but I can’t,” said Myers.

He apologized to Patterson and his family, though they weren’t in court. He also told the judge his life went down the wrong path due to addiction and mental health issues and he will work on himself during his sentence.

“I’m determined to make this my last time in prison,” he said.