Man gets prison for firing shotgun at partner
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on July 27, 2024.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com A 23-year-old Lethbridge man who fired a sawed-off shotgun at his girlfriend has been sent to a federal penitentiary.George Gregory Kibble was sentenced Friday in Lethbridge court of justice to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of discharging a prohibited firearm, unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted weapon, and possession of a prohibited firearm contrary to a prohibition order.
At about 7:45 p.m. on March 1 of this year, during an argument with his domestic partner and while in possession of a sawed-off shotgun he had taken from his stepfather’s garage, Kibble loaded the shotgun and threatened to kill himself and his partner.
“Kibble was screaming that he believed (she) was cheating on him and that she had snuck a male out the back door, so he went outside and checked,” explained Crown Prosecutor Lauren Atkinson.
Believing she was in danger, the woman ran from the house, then realized she couldn’t leave her dogs with Kibble. She heard Kibble open a shed door, and thought she could call her dogs from the front door while he was in the backyard. As she walked toward the front door, however, Kibble came around the side of the house.
“Kibble was pointing a shotgun in her direction and was walking toward her,” Atkinson said. “Kibble pulled the trigger and fired the shotgun in her direction, but she was not hit.”
She then ran across the street to a neighbour’s house to get help.
Kibble also pleaded guilty to charges of obstruction of justice and failing to comply with a no-communication order.
Following the shooting on March 1, Kibble was placed in custody and ordered not to communicate with his partner except through legal counsel. While police investigated the domestic violence case, they listened to recorded phone calls made by Kibble while he was in custody and discovered he had called the woman, as well as his mother.
Kibble made 55 calls from remand, 40 to his partner and 15 to his mother. During one of the conversations to his mother, he is heard saying, “I can get bail if she changes her statement.”
In a conversation with his partner on March 3, the woman asked how she could help Kibble get bail, and if it would help his case if she didn’t show up for court.
George replied: “Take your statement back; retract, retract. You have to fill out an affidavit and a retract statement.”
“The Crown and defence have absolutely taken into account the severity of the offence; that it happened in a domestic violence context; that a gun was shot outside of a home; and that absolutely has serious consequences for the public,” Atkinson told the judge. “However, there are no allegations that anyone or anything was shot as a result of this firearm going off.”
Calgary lawyer John Oman told court his client, who suffers from mental health issues, has been taking medication while in custody, as well as a parenting course.
“He was abused as a child,” Oman pointed out. “He does not have children, but the parenting course he was able to take helped him to understand the interactions with children and otherwise.”
Oman said Kibble also plans to take various programs while he is in prison, as well as counselling for anger management and anything else that will help him better understand family dynamics and problems.
As part of Kibble’s sentence, he is prohibited from possessing weapons for life, and he must submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Data Bank. He is also prohibited from communicating with his partner, even though they both want to have contact with each other, court was told.
Justice Erin Olsen acknowledged the couple’s wishes to be able to communicate with each other during the prison term, but noted a no-communication order is intended to help the court address overall safety issues.
“The scenario in this case, combining both the initial offence where Mr. Kibble fired a shotgun at someone – fortunately missed – then within a day of the order to have no communication with that person, while still in custody, managed to phone both his mother and that person, discussing, asking, or demanding that statements be changed, messages needed to be sent, retractions need to be communicated, and so on, is extremely serious,” Olsen said. “I’m not willing to take the chance with (the woman’s) safety in the future by allowing contact between Mr. Kibble and (her) against this backdrop.”
Although sentenced to five years in prison, Kibble was credited for time he spent in remand custody, reducing his sentence by nearly seven and a half months. 3
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