Photo: KTW file

Kamloops provincial court

A repeat domestic abuser who spat in his ex’s face while arguing about parenting time has been ordered to spend the next 18 months on probation.

Zachary Judd, 29, was sentenced Thursday in Kamloops provincial court after pleading guilty to one count of domestic assault.

Court heard Judd was talking to his ex in front of his house on April 18, 2024, about parenting time. Crown prosecutor Evan Goulet said their young daughter was present.

“While standing on the sidewalk in front of his residence, Mr. Judd spat through the open front window, hitting her in the right shoulder,” he said.

"Still angry, he opened the door and spit again, hitting her in the face.”

Judd has three previous convictions on his criminal record, two of which are for domestic assault. One of them involved the same victim.

Goulet was looking for house arrest, but defence lawyer Danielle Ching-McNamee sought a conditional discharge on account of a severe brain injury Judd suffered while in his teens.

In 2011, Judd and four of his high-school football teammates were in a vehicle that was T-boned in Grande Prairie, Alta. Judd was pulled from the wreckage and recovered after spending several weeks in a coma, but the four other boys died.

Ching-McNamee cited a medical report that said Judd's personality changed following the crash, and he now has very little impulse control.

“Although Mr. Judd presents as typical, it is clear from this assessment that he will have a very difficult time navigating relationships to the standard that a reasonable person may otherwise be able to do, in large part due to this major traumatic brain injury,” she said.

Ching-McNamee said Judd moved his family to Kamloops in 2019, purchasing a home with the money he received in a settlement following the collision.

Calling it “a difficult case,” Kamloops provincial court Judge Stella Frame granted Judd the conditional discharge and sentenced him to 18 months of probation. That means the entry will not show up on his criminal record if he completes the sentence without incident.

“Spitting on a person may not cause visible harm, but it is not only incredibly insulting, it is contaminated and you put that person at risk of whatever illness you could have,” the judge said.

"It’s not a minor thing to spit on somebody, especially not your former partner in the presence of your child.”