Photo: Oliver Daily News

A prolific offender has been taken into custody after a break and enter with an axe into an Oliver business.

Police responded after a witness initially saw a man break into an apartment on Main Street in Oliver, at about 7:40 a.m. on Saturday.

The witness said the male was wielding a large axe and had used it to break through a door.

Oliver and Osoyoos RCMP, as well the Police Dog Service from Penticton RCMP, responded to the apartment, located above a business that was closed.

No one was located in the apartment, and officers determined the suspect broke into the business below through an access door.

After the police dog found the suspect hiding in the business, he raised the axe and was about to strike the dog, Cst. Blaine Gervais said in a news release.

The officer who witnessed the unfolding incident was close enough to grab the axe handle, and after a brief struggle managed to take it away from the suspect, Gervais said.

The male suspect was then arrested.

Steve Godbout, 50, remains in custody and is facing several charges in regards to the incident.

Godbout had previously been arrested on Feb. 7 in relation to an arson in a dumpster at the Oliver Mall.

He had only been released in late January after serving a two-year jail sentence for breaking into a Telus service shelter.

Godbout appears in court next on Feb. 28.