Sentence reduced for Fort St. John man convicted of using imitation firearm

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Fort St. John man who used an imitation firearm to force entry to a victim’s home has had his sentence reduced. 

On June 10th, a BC Court of Appeal tribunal shortened Adrian James Attachie’s three-year jail sentence to 22 months.

The 34-year-old pleaded guilty last July to using an imitation firearm to commit forced entry on January 19th, 2024.

The ‘agreed facts’ of the offences include that Attachie and two masked men forced entry into the residence and there was a confrontation in which Attachie punched the victim twice in the face and took cash from two purses.

He was under a firearms ban and two-year probation order at the time.

The Crown proposed Attachie remain in jail for six to 12 months minus time served for an effective 13 to 19 months inside, and Attachie’s lawyer proposed time served plus two years’ probation.

The appeal submission points out this means the provincial court sentence was harsher than that proposed by the Crown. 

It also argues the judge did not ask Attachie if he had anything to say in court before the sentence was rendered and did not properly consider the “poor police investigation.”

“The core issue in this appeal involves Mr. Attachie’s assertion the judge’s consideration of his guilty pleas and the resulting decision to give them little or no weight as a mitigating factor involved an error or errors in principle that impacted the sentence,” Honourable Justice Margot Fleming wrote in the verdict, concurred by Justices Patrice Abrioux and Karen Horsman.

Rather than the three-year sentence, Fleming said 12 months for using the imitation firearm and 10 months for forcible entry, plus 12 months’ probation, was a fit sentence.

“Commensurate with the gravity of the offences and the moral blameworthiness of Mr. Attachie in committing them, a global sentence of 22 months in prison and a probation order with conditions that reduce the risk of harm and provide for counselling and treatment including residential treatment, is proportionate,” Fleming decided.

The ruling noted “long and significant relationship with trauma,” including his father being murdered when he was 15 years old. 

Fleming also said Attachie would receive 242 days of pretrial custody credit.