Nanaimo man handed lengthy prison sentence for offences committed while out on bail

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Watch43-year-old Colin Lamontagne sentenced for vicious assault, drug and gun offences

A Nanaimo man has been handed a lengthy prison sentence for a brutal assault on a man while the accused was on bail for another violent crime.

Forty-three-year-old Colin Lamontagne was sentenced Friday morning for aggravated assault, forcible confinement, drug and gun charges in connection with a vicious attack on another man over a drug debt three years ago.

“The victim was tied up and beaten over a debt,” said Nick Barber the Crown Counsel for the case.

“It went on over a prolonged period of time and he [the victim] suffers still from those consequences.”

It happened inside a Nanaimo home on 9th Avenue in November 2016.

The victim was tasered during the beating and pistol-whipped while others watched. When released, Lamontagne ordered the victim to clean up the blood.

He was then dumped at Diver Lake park where a passerby found him on a park bench the next morning.

His injuries included broken ribs, skull fractures and a partial lung collapse.

A paramedic found a bullet that had been placed in the victim’s shirt pocket.

When police searched the home where the assault occurred and another home on Cedar Road connected with the crime, they found almost a million dollars worth of drugs.

“It included every hard drug that is commonly trafficked including fentanyl and carfentanyl and there’s no doubt that many people would have overdosed and died if they’d been given the drugs that were being sold out of those two residences,” said Barber.

Police also found a restricted semi-automatic handgun.

“The loaded handgun was in a safe for which he had the key but there was also a shotgun and a plethora of other more minor weapons located there,” said Barber.

At the time of the assault, Lamontagne was already facing charges in connection with the 2015 death of a man in Victoria. He had been released on bail.

“It’s highly aggravating that he was on bail at the time,” said Barber.

He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter in that case.

His lawyer says Lamontagne, a model prisoner, has taken every step possible in jail to turn his life around.

“Mr. Lamontagne is resolute in his determination to improve himself and change from the man he was,” said Stephen Taylor, his lawyer.

On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Watchuk sentenced Lamontagne to nine years in prison.

Kendall HansonKendall Hanson

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