Man sentenced to another year in jail in Dawson Creek firearms case

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — A man who was knowingly in a car with a firearm inside in Dawson Creek has been sentenced to two years in jail and one year on probation.

Jesse Sebastian Bujold, who was born in 1999, was sentenced on September 12th after pleading guilty to occupying a vehicle knowing a firearm was present.

In the October 3rd-released transcript of a BC Supreme Court ruling, Justice Joseph Doyle said Bujold was arrested after the RCMP attended a shots-fired call in Dawson Creek at the start of this year. 

The ruling said the incident happened on January 16th, but information from the RCMP at the time put it at 1 a.m. on January 17th. 

Justice Joseph Doyle wrote an officer, who showed up in an unmarked vehicle, suspected a black truck to be involved. No other vehicle was around and the driver did not stop for police, so a high-speed chase ensued.

“During that chase, someone in the truck discharged a firearm, hitting the police vehicle,” Doyle said. “The constable, thankfully, was not hurt. The chase was called off.”

Police, with help from a dog, eventually found the truck and discovered Bujold and another accused person. They were arrested and a restricted firearm, an Optima shotgun, was later found.

Bujold was initially charged with flight from police and careless use of a firearm, but he disputed being the driver or being the person who shot the gun at a police vehicle, and was not being sentenced for that. 

Justice Joseph Doyle sentenced Bujold to spend 373 days in jail, when accounting for time served.

Doyle agreed to the joint sentencing proposal from Crown and defence lawyers. The probation term includes a ban on possessing any weapon as defined by the Criminal Code.

“Mr. Bujold, if you have not figured this out by now, maybe this will help you figure it out,” Doyle said.

“There are a few consequences of continuing in that lifestyle. One of them is spending most of your life in jail. Another is ending up dead. You are still a young man. You have got a lot ahead of you.”

He wished also Bujold good luck: “You have had a tough life and you have spent more than you need of it in jail…you are going to have a much happier life if you are away from the drug scene and away from the weapons scene and can live peacefully for the balance of your still long life to come.”