By Bryn Levy

Stern words from Saskatoon judge on Christmas Eve

Dec 25, 2014 | 7:24 AM

Jolly old St. Nick was nowhere to be found on Christmas Eve at Saskatoon Provincial Court.

Instead, people appearing in courtroom number one got to meet Judge Albert Lavoie.

Lavoie lived up to his reputation for being one of Saskatoon’s sterner judges, doling out Christmas scoldings to several of the accused.

At one point, he cut off a 36-year-old man who was trying to argue the charge he was facing. Telling the man he was giving him a talking-to he should have gotten as a little boy, Lavoie admonished him to stop making excuses.  The details surrounding the 36-year-old’s alleged crimes are subject to a publication ban, but he was denied bail. 

A 57-year-old woman was also given short shrift as she tried to talk her way out of fraud, shoplifting and assault charges. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe anything you say,” said Lavoie before denying her bail, on the grounds that she had a lengthy record and also faces several charges for missing court dates.

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A 27-year-old woman did get an early Christmas present of sorts. The Crown agreed to a sentence of nine months’ probation on a charge that she repeatedly punched her boyfriend in the head Tuesday night in a drunken rage. The incident happened as the couple’s children looked on. 

She got the lighter sentence because she had no prior criminal record, but she still got both barrels from Lavoie. He told her she needed to break the cycle of dysfunction she had likely witnessed in her own upbringing.

“You brought kids into this world. You take care of them,” he said, before telling her she ought to be embarrassed for her behaviour.

Those were just a few of the people in Saskatoon who may be getting lumps of coal in their stockings, the Saskatoon Police Service reported arresting 46 people between Monday and Tuesday.  

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