It’s what a full courtroom heard Richard Joseph Arsenault say Wednesday afternoon in Charlottetown as he waited to hear how long he would be spending in prison.
“With all my heart and soul I want to be part of the community,” he said.
Chief Judge Nancy Orr sentenced Arsenault to nine years in prison after he previously pleaded guilty to four break and enters, possessing stolen property and wearing a mask while committing an offence.
Arsenault sat through most of Wednesday’s proceedings at the defence table where he wore a dress shirt and black pants instead of the usual jail sweat suit he wore during his previous court appearances.
Before hearing his sentence, Arsenault stood to read from a letter he had prepared, saying he could see and feel all the pain he caused.
“The hurt and anger I’ve caused many people,” he said.
It’s what a full courtroom heard Richard Joseph Arsenault say Wednesday afternoon in Charlottetown as he waited to hear how long he would be spending in prison.
“With all my heart and soul I want to be part of the community,” he said.
Chief Judge Nancy Orr sentenced Arsenault to nine years in prison after he previously pleaded guilty to four break and enters, possessing stolen property and wearing a mask while committing an offence.
Arsenault sat through most of Wednesday’s proceedings at the defence table where he wore a dress shirt and black pants instead of the usual jail sweat suit he wore during his previous court appearances.
Before hearing his sentence, Arsenault stood to read from a letter he had prepared, saying he could see and feel all the pain he caused.
“The hurt and anger I’ve caused many people,” he said.
Some of those people were in the courtroom, along with police officers involved in the “screencutter” investigation and a group of people who sat with Arsenault’s wife.
Arsenault turned to face the people in the courtroom to say he was asking for forgiveness.
“It’s not the person I want to be,” he said.
He also said he wasn’t a lost cause.
“Even though right now it looks that way,” Arsenault said.
Before the day’s proceedings began, the court called Arsenault’s wife, Courtney, and stayed the joint charge against her of possessing stolen property after her husband pleaded guilty.
When the police searched the couple’s home in Travellers Rest they found more than $45,000 in cash stashed around the house.
That included $4,600 hidden under the couple’s mattress and about $1,500 in coins the court heard it took one police officer eight hours to count.
The police also found more than $33,000 in Canadian dollars and about US$7,311 hidden behind a bookshelf.
As he read his statement, Richard addressed people he said were “hating on” Courtney and asked them to understand she didn’t do anything wrong.
Richard said people wondered how she couldn’t have known what he was doing and his response was that he was a late-night poker player and an alcoholic.
“She has a kind soul,” he said.
TIMELINE:
September 2015 – RCMP ask for voluntary DNA samples from Stratford men after rash of break-ins
January 2016 – Police release photo of suspected burglar in what becomes known as “screencutter” investigation
August 2016 – Police arrest Richard Joseph Arsenault
November 2016 – Arsenault pleads not guilty to 18 charges
Dec. 13, 2016 – Arsenaut changes plea to guilty of five charges
During the sentencing, the court heard Richard was a man with a lengthy criminal record that included convictions for arson, thefts, break and enters, assaults and other offences dating back to 1997.
His last conviction was in 2010 and the court heard he appeared to turn his life around at that point.
Richard married Courtney in 2012 and the couple owned a gym where he offered classes, worked with kids and gave boxing lessons to people with Parkinson’s disease.
He was a mixed martial artist and former boxing champion, who had to retire from both this year because of an upper spine injury.
Orr addressed all of those things before sentencing Richard, saying the next time he tries to turn his life around people in the community will probably be skeptical.
She said at the same time as he was doing good in the community, Richard was committing crimes that caused “high anxiety” and “terror.”
Orr also said it was concerning to think about the young people Richard worked with and who looked up to him.
“What kind of an impact is that going to have on the youth you were involved with?” she said.
Before adjourning the matter, Orr addressed Richard’s request for forgiveness.
“You certainly caused a great deal of upset,” she said.
Orr said he can’t do great things one day and break into people’s homes at night.
“You can’t live a double life,” she said.
In sentencing Richard to nine years in prison, Orr followed a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.
She gave him credit of six months for time spent in custody since his arrest in August.
Orr ordered more than $45,000 the police seized from the Arsenaults’ home forfeited.
Of that amount, more than $4,150 will go to the victims involved in the break-ins for which he pleaded guilty.
Twitter.com/ryanrross
