A 59-year-old man will spend the next two years in prison after pleading guilty to a five-year-old break in.
Allan Grant Gourlay pleaded guilty to a single count of breaking and entering and Judge Bruce Garriock handed him a two-year term, after both the Crown and defence suggested that was an appropriate sentence.
Police were called about noon on Dec. 12, 2007 after a man came home to find Gourlay in his apartment. The man had returned from a brief grocery trip and initially couldn’t open his door. After first checking his keys, he still found the door wouldn’t open and when he pulled on it he realized that Gourlay was on the other side.
The man eventually opened his apartment door and found Gourlay inside with a set of keys to the building and a pry bar, which he appeared to have used on the apartment door.
The man pulled Gourlay out of his apartment without a struggle and waited until police arrived. Nothing was taken from the apartment and it appeared Gourlay had been surprised to have the man come back to his apartment so quickly.
Crown prosecutor John Donahoe told the court Gourlay had a previous conviction for breaking and entering from 2002. In that case he was sentenced to a total of 26 months for three separate break-ins.
While this sentence represented a step down, not the usual step up, Donahoe and Gourlay’s lawyer, Darin Sprake, both said it was important to recognize the difference in the crimes and the time between them.
Gourlay’s sentence will have him serve the time in a federal penitentiary. Sprake said his client was a diagnosed binge drinker and was hopeful the federal sentence would allow him to access treatment and rehabilitation programs.
