A Vancouver Island man was sentenced to time served at provincial court in Nanaimo, B.C. on Wednesday after being found guilty of beating and robbing a travelling businessman in a 2017 incident.
Gabriel Stephen Nelson, 30, was arrested in April 2017 and charged with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and robbery. In a press release issued at the time, Nanaimo RCMP said that Nelson had met a man, named at sentencing as Joseph Jaeger, at a licensed establishment and the two went to Jaeger’s downtown Nanaimo hotel , where Jaeger said he was assaulted, tied up, threatened and had property stolen.
Jaeger received numerous injuries and was taken to hospital and required surgery, police said.
Nelson stood trial in February and was subsequently found guilty by Judge Brian Harvey. Leanne Mascolo, Crown counsel, and Kelly Bradshaw, Nelson’s legal counsel, submitted a joint submission Wednesday and Nelson will serve no additional jail time and is expected to be released today.
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Mascolo told Harvey that Nelson had served 513 actual days in jail, but should be credited for 769 days. Mascolo said she sought two years less a day concurrently for each count, which amounts to 729 days.
According to Bradshaw, Nelson, who has a web design company and is a commercial fisherman, advised that in the past, doctors had said he had post-traumatic stress disorder and other times, schizoaffective disorder.
Mascolo and Bradshaw sought and were granted an order which will require Nelson to report to forensic psychiatric services when directed by his probation officer and take all medication that is prescribed to him, among order conditions.
Harvey ruled that the joint submission was a fair sentence and told Nelson his offences were egregious. He said Nelson had spent a great deal of time in prison and had had time to reflect on the incident.
Harvey placed Nelson on two years’ probation and he will be prohibited from consuming alcohol and is forbidden from taking drugs, unless it is prescribed medication. He must not possess any drug paraphernalia, including pipes, rolling papers and syringes.
Nelson is also forbidden from having any contact with Jaeger.
