3 months in jail the sentence handed a city police officer who was found guilty of common assault and engaging in threatening conduct after a breakin at his home on Westfield Road.
Mr. Justice Hugh McLellen cited a New Brunswick Court of Appeal ruling in sending 39 year old Constable Chris Messer to jail. The Court of Appeal ruled when police break the law, a conditional discharge is woefully inadequate.
The judge also rejecting house arrest when Messer’s lawyer expressed concern over his safety in jail.
Messer was told he was convicted largely on the basis of his own evidence. The police officer suspected Randy King of breaking into his home and admitted to punching him three times in the back of the head outside the detention area after transporting him from the west side.
The judge also telling Messer he was in a conflict of interest by investigating a crime committed against himself but no one in the police department prevented him from doing so. Mr. Justice McLellen says Messer doesn’t seem to understand he was in a conflict of interest which is a breach of trust.
