Woman gets nine months house arrest for firearms charges
By Peggy Revell on January 12, 2018.
prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell
It will be nine months of house arrest for a woman charged last April after police seized a cache of firearms at an Irvine residence.
Brandalyn Brandham was sentenced Thursday after entering a guilty plea to one count of careless storage of a firearm, while her co-accused faces much more serious charges at a trial in February.
“Effectively, you’re a straw man in this whole situation. I know how it appears and how it’s laid out,” said Judge Eric Brooks during Brandham’s sentencing on how police and Crown will be making the case that Brandham was being used to purchase the multiple firearms for her co-accused, who is under a firearms prohibition.
The arrests came after a loss prevention officer at the local Canadian Tire store saw Brandham purchase a shotgun and ammunition on March 31. While Brandham was legally allowed to make the purchase, police were contacted because she was making the purchase while in the presence of two men who were prohibited from having firearms.
Police obtained a public safety warrant for the Irvine residence Brandham was living in with her co-accused Denver Ailsby, and multiple firearms were seized.
Six of the guns were not properly locked up, while three guns were in a safe, but the safe was not locked.
Brandham entered the guilty plea in September 2017, with the matter adjourned so a pre-sentencing report could be put together for consideration. Brandham has no criminal record.
This report shows Brandham’s life has not always been easy, Brooks noted, but “shows you have risen above challenges and you should be commended for that.”
But Brooks issued a stark warning that her actions are under a “very significant microscope” due to who she chooses to have a relationship with.
The conditional sentence order of nine months was part of a joint submission to the judge by Crown and defence, and puts Brandham under 24/7 house arrest save for employment, education, taking her children to school and other specific situations.
