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Penticton  

Telus shelter break and enter

A South Okanagan man who broke into a Telus service shelter in the Oliver area was sentenced to two years, with credit for time served, in a Penticton courtroom on Wednesday.

Steve Godbout was facing charges of breaking and entering, stemming from the shelter incident on March 19, and possession of stolen property from the day he was arrested on April 5. He was not charged with damage to a cell tower on the top of Fairview Mountain, which happened just prior to the break and enter.

Godbout, who occasionally has places to stay but is mostly homeless, was handed the sentence at the end of his trial, after Judge Gregory Koturbash found him guilty of both charges.

The trial itself included testimony from police and Telus witnesses as well as submissions from Crown counsel Vernon Frolick and defence lawyer James Pennington.

A Telus employee testified that the tower collapsed on March 17. Godbout was subsequently seen by the employee exiting the shelter, on March 19, as Telus came in with a helicopter crew and engineers to analyze the tower collapse.

The witness said he caught up with the man and asked him if he breaks in all the time, he then asked the accused to smile and took his picture.

The accused carried on walking and the employee called his manager when he noticed the door to the shelter was so badly damaged he couldn't get in.

He was advised to call the police, and Godbout, who was observed a second time on a ridge near the shelter in the same time period, was arrested on April 5.

At the time of his arrest, he was found to be in possession of a USB storage device, another electronic device and a single key taken from the shelter.

In handing down the sentence Koturbash took into consideration that Godbout has 29 prior convictions for break and enter and that his action of damaging the building had considerable impact on people in Oliver, as it affects cellphone usage.

With the credit for time served, the accused has 549 days left to serve. The judge also asked that Godbout pay for the repairs to the door at the shelter, which cost $16,452.

The accused was not given any probation. Instead Koturbash told him he needs to turn things around.



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