Firefighter admits to conditional sentence breach

A Winnipeg firefighter previously jailed for criminally harassing two different women has been released from custody after admitting to breaching a conditional sentence order.

Christopher Goethals, 59, was arrested July 21 after an alert from his ankle monitor six days earlier showed he had driven within 400 metres of the workplace of a former girlfriend he had been ordered to have no contact with.

Goethals pleaded guilty Wednesday to not being in possession of a copy of his conditional sentence order, a requirement of his sentence.

Crown attorney Amanda Heslop withdrew a breach charge related to Goethals’ electronic monitoring conditions and stayed a third charge of disobeying a court order.

At the time of his arrest, Goethals was still serving a one-year conditional sentence imposed last January after he pleaded guilty to two counts of disobeying court orders. That sentence was in addition to just over 12 months he had finished serving for criminal harassment.

Goethals continued to work with the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service on “modified duties” while serving his conditional sentence.

Court heard Goethals was using a work truck to transport a Zodiac boat from the St. Boniface firehall to a McPhillips Street training centre when his electronic ankle bracelet sent out an alert notifying police he had come within 400 metres of his former girlfriend’s workplace.

Police pulled Goethals over near the Canadian Museum of Human Rights but did not immediately arrest him. The incident was reviewed by a senior officer after which police arrested Goethals July 21 at the training centre. He was taken to police headquarters when it was discovered he was not in possession of a copy of his conditional sentence order, as required.

Heslop said the Crown stayed and withdrew the two other charges because it was uncertain whether Goethals intentionally drove into the “exclusion zone” or if it was the only route available to him.

“In any event, despite the possibility of a reasonable excuse for his behaviour on that day, I think that Mr. Goethals needs to be very careful with what he is doing in terms of his employment,” Heslop told provincial court Judge Lindy Choy.

“I think he has to be very careful with the fact that his employment is interfering with his ability to properly comply with his order and that is something he needs to consider and maybe discuss with his supervisor,” Heslop said. “The reality is that he has now spent two months in custody as a result of this.”

Goethals did not deliberately drive near the woman’s workplace and immediately called his supervisor when his ankle monitor was activated, said defence lawyer Tony Kavanagh.

“It’s a hard lesson for my client,” Kavanagh said. “Two months (in jail) is not insignificant.”

Heslop recommended no further action be taken and Choy imposed no additional jail time.

“You do have to recognize house arrest is supposed to be like a jail sentence,” Choy old Goethals. “If you were in jail, you would not be able to work, you would not be able to be out in the community, so you do have to comply with everything that is required.”

Goethals’ conditional sentence order expires in January.

In 2017, Goethals pleaded guilty to criminally harassing his longtime partner and breaking into her new home shortly after she left him. Goethals was credited 16 months for time served and sentenced to an additional six months custody and three years supervised probation.

Goethals’ ex-partner “refused all requests for reconciliation and he refused to take no for an answer,” Crown attorney Shannon Benevides told court. “He felt entitled to continue to make efforts to keep her in the relationship.”

When the woman told Goethals she was going to seek a protection order, he told her “a piece of paper won’t keep you safe.”

In July 2016, Goethals was convicted of breaching a protection order, sentenced to five months jail and two years supervised probation, during which time he was to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

According to a pre-sentence report provided to court, Goethals told a probation officer he planned to “make her life miserable” when he was released from jail.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca