Man who lost leg in altercation, charged with mischief given conditional discharge

A Charlottetown man who lost his leg in an altercation was given a conditional discharge on a mischief charge in provincial court on Wednesday.

Donald (Artie)Gautreau is a tattoo artist whose leg was amputated in December after he was pinned against the wall of his shop on Kensington Road by a truck.

He pleaded guiltyto mischief in Marchfor damaging the truck after he struck it with a metal bar, breaking one of its windows.An assault charge against him was stayed.

The court heard the incident happened around 5:10 a.m. when Sean Lombardi, 26,and Riley MacFadyen,20,arrived at Gautreau's tattoo shop.

Crown attorney, Jeff MacDonaldtold the courtGautreau came outside and there was a verbal dispute between the three men. He said as the altercation escalated,Gautreau became concerned for his own safety and attempted to get the mento leave by spraying a cleaning solution at them.

According to police reports, Gautreauwas pinned by the vehicle around 5:20 a.m. and was airlifted to aHalifax hospital following the incident, where his lowerleg was amputated.

At the time police said the incidentappeared to be a dispute over a woman. Police also laid charges against Lombardi and MacFadyen.

Gautreaurepresented himself in Charlottetown provincial court.

9 month conditional discharge, no contact order

When handing down his sentence, Judge John Douglas said the facts before him in this case are limited, since the charges against Lombardi and MacFadyen still have to be proven in court. He toldGautreauhe couldchoose tochange his plea to not guilty and proceed with a trial of self-defence, but Gautreaudeclined.

"There's a lot more to this than what I'm dealing with right now," Douglas said. "I think the simplest matter for me would be to discharge you fully."

Gautreau was given a conditional discharge, under which he was to keep the peace and have no contact with Lombardi or MacFadyen.

After the sentencing Gautreau said he wants to put the incident behind him.

"I just wanted this over with, move on," Gautreau said. "Youcan't walk so everything's different."

"I'm lucky to be here, those guys in Halifax that did this operation they're good at what they do."

The two men charged with assaulting Gautreau MacFadyen,and Lombardi have not yet entered pleas in court.

Lombardi is accused of driving the vehicle that hit Gautreau. MacFadyen is charged with assaulting Gautreau with a baseball bat. Both men are scheduled to appear in provincial court this week.

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