An alcohol addiction and a relationship breakup were a bad combination for Jourdan David Adams, who lashed out at his ex and her new beau with his fists and his words.
On Sept. 10, around 6:30 p.m., Adams went to his ex’s home, where she, her new boyfriend and a friend were socializing outside. They told him to leave, but he walked onto the deck and knocked off the boyfriend’s hat, Crown prosecutor Rob Parker said in Moose Jaw Provincial Court recently while reading the facts.
His ex told him to leave again and pushed him down the stairs, but he walked back up and grappled with the new boyfriend. At one point, Adams slapped his ex because she was attempting to break up the fight and slapped the other female friend.
Assiniboia RCMP arrested Adams — he was intoxicated — and told him to stay away, Parker said. However, 31 minutes after his release, Adams breached his release order by texting his ex, saying he wanted to see their child. He also sent the new boyfriend a Facebook message.
“Now, there was no exception in his release document for that purpose (contacting his ex to see his child). At that point, it was a straight ban on any sort of contact,” the prosecutor continued. “ … the Crown would concede, however, it was a legitimate request for access to the child, which makes it somewhat less aggravating.”
Three days later, the ex-spouse contacted RCMP to say Adams, 34, had sent her boyfriend’s mother a text threatening to kill her son.
A month later, on Oct. 13, the ex-spouse called 911 to say Adams was at her house intoxicated and banging on the doors and windows even though he was prohibited from being there. She told him to leave and he eventually did.
“The Crown would describe this behaviour and these offences as extremely serious in nature,” Parker said.
“The Crown had initially considered asking for actual incarceration for Mr. Adams, despite the fact he doesn’t have a previous criminal record. His behaviour throughout the course of this … was outrageous.”
Yet, not having a criminal record and spending time on remand means the Crown won’t seek jail, Parker said. He acknowledged that this was a stressful situation for Adams because his relationship had ended and he was handling his problem with alcohol. However, this offence was an intimate partner issue.
While appearing in court by phone, Adams pleaded guilty to three charges of assault, one charge of breaching an undertaking, one charge of uttering threats and one charge of breaching a release order.
As part of a joint submission, he will spend the next three months on house arrest with a curfew of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., to be followed by 12 months of probation with no curfew. He must also abide by several conditions, including not being near his ex-spouse and not contacting her except through a third party for parenting issues.
Defence lawyer Zakary Anderson explained that Adams had gone a rough few months because of the breakup and was unable to regularly see his child, even though he had moved from British Columbia for that purpose. This situation caused his mental health to decline.
Adams is an alcoholic and has battled that problem “for a while” — he had two years of sobriety eight years ago — while he made poor decisions, the lawyer continued. He recognizes that the future will be worse if he continues to drink; being on remand has impressed that upon him.
“He sees this as an opportunity to get his life on track,” Anderson added.
Judge Brian Henderickson agreed to accept the joint submission and waive the victim surcharge.
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