Man gets jail for criminal harassment

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on November 17, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

For five months Timothy Paul Glenfield terrorized his ex-girlfriend and her mother. When the mother told him to stop calling, he kept calling anyway. When she blocked his calls, he still found a way to call. When his former girlfriend moved to a new home to get away from him, he found her.
Nothing seemed to work, but on Wednesday in Lethbridge court of justice, Glenfield, who previously pleaded guilty to criminal harassment, was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to stay away from his victims.
“Harassment of (his ex-girlfriend) included persistent and abusive telephone calls to both her and her mother, threats of physical harm…threats to break into her home, and threats to take their young son away from his mother,” Justice Erin Olsen said. “One of the specific threats was, quote, ‘I just want to make something clear; you better watch what’s coming for you because it will be worse.’ ”
Olsen said the threat was in reference to something that happened to another girl around the same time.
“There was the threat that something worse was going to happen to her after a female relative of his was physically beaten up and he blamed (her) for that, so something bad was going to happen to her,” explained Crown Prosecutor Michael Fox.
“There was the threat of violence; the threat that she would be beaten up at the Stampede, which prompted her to contact the police,” Fox pointed out, adding, however, that the most troubling aspect of the case is that she moved to get away from him because she was afraid he would act on his threats to take their son.
“She came home and found a gift and flowers on the driveway. It seems innocuous, but to her, that was him telling her, I know where you are; I can get you. ”
Glenfield’s lawyer told court his 25-year-old client, who was bullied when he was a child growing up in Calgary because he is indigenous, is single but has one child who was born after a “one-night escapade” with the mother.
“His son is very important to him and is one of his main motivating factors ” to better his life, lawyer J. K. Phillips told court.
Phillips said his client became frustrated by the games his ex would play, such as when she would agree to visitation but then change her mind at the last minute. On one occasion when he went to visit, he was denied, but he left some potted plants and toys for his son.
“That could be interpreted other ways, but that was his intention behind it.”
Phillips said Glenfield acknowledges that his frustrations do not justify his actions, and he chose to plead guilty to save his victim and her grandmother from testifying at trial.
“This has been quite the wake-up call for him. He accepts responsibility for his actions in this case, understands the seriousness of these types of charges…and that is why he agreed to the joint submission regarding the six-month term.”
In addition to the jail sentence, during which Glenfield is not to have any contact with his ex or her son, he will be on probation for one year following his release.

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