THUNDER BAY – A Thunder Bay firefighter has received a four-month jail sentence for assaulting a local emergency room physician in an incident that took place nearly three years ago.
Stephen James Cameron, 47, was convicted on the two charges in October 2019.
On July 7, court heard a brief summary of the offences from 2017. Ontario Justice Peter Bishop told the court while driving Cameron crossed the centre line in a confrontation with the complainant, a local doctor.
Cameron drove his vehicle up to the complainant who was walking his dog at the time and exited his vehicle and assaulted him, according to Crown Attorney Rob Kozak.
“There was animus between the two, (the complainant) and Mr. Cameron, it wasn’t just one-sided,” Bishop said.
Some of the complainant’s injuries included two lacerations to his eyebrow, six stitches for a puncture wound in his ear canal, swelling of the left cheek, a concussion and he also required surgery on his eye. Court heard the victim still suffers from vision problems from the assault. He had to take months off work due to his injuries which also resulted in loss of income, court heard.
Cameron’s counsel, George Joseph, told the court his client is employed as a city firefighter. Approximately a dozen character reference letters were submitted to the court on behalf of Cameron expressing how out of character this incident was for him.
One letter written by Cameron’s platoon’s captain described him as a hardworking and respected member of the city’s fire department. His ex-wife also submitted a letter expressing how shocked she was to learn he was involved in this altercation.
“In fact, that’s the theme that runs through all the letters of reference that everyone who appears to know Mr. Cameron indicates that this behaviour exhibited that day was completely out of character,” Joseph said.
Crown counsel was seeking a jail sentence of six to 12 months while defence counsel had submitted a recommendation of a suspended sentence for the aggravated assault charge and a conditional sentence order for the dangerous driving offence.
Although crown counsel stated this incident appeared to be out of the ordinary for Cameron given the fact he has no criminal record and a pre-sentence report determined he was at a "very low risk to re-offend", a jail sentence was still warranted in this case to meet the principles of denunciation and deterrence.
“What happened that night was an aberration,” Kozak said, adding the injuries the victim sustained were life-altering and serious.
“It is Mr. Cameron you’re going to be sentencing but it applies beyond Mr. Cameron solely," he said, adding the sentence also needed to send a message to society.
Bishop sentenced Cameron for the aggravated assault charge to 120 days of jail time at the Thunder Bay District Jail which will commence on Sept. 1. Until his custodial sentence begins, Cameron will be placed on a probation order which will require him to have no contact with the victim and his wife.
For the dangerous driving charge, Cameron received an eight-month conditional sentence order.
He will also be placed on a 12-month probation order following his conditional sentence order.
Cameron spoke briefly to apologize when he was asked to speak during his sentencing hearing.
“I would like to say I extremely regretful of my actions and I am sorry for the pain that I have caused,” he said.
No restitution order was endorsed for Cameron as there is a civil suit being launched where he is the defendant in connection to this case.
