Patrick Brazeau arrested for assault, cocaine, threats
A day before a trial date was to be set for his 2013 assault case, Patrick Brazeau was arrested Wednesday night for an alleged incident of domestic violence.
The suspended Conservative senator is expected to faces new charges of assault, cocaine possession, uttering threats and breach of conditions after an alleged fight with a former girlfriend.
Police in Gatineau, Que., said they got a call for domestic disturbance at 3:53 a.m. Thursday. At the scene, officers saw that a woman and a 39-year-old man had been fighting on the house balcony.
The 39-year-old man was arrested for assault “in the context of conjugal violence,” Gatineau police said in a statement.
The man was taken into custody at the local police station. His name wasn’t immediately released, pending his court appearance this morning. However, several media outlets have identified him as Mr. Brazeau and the suspect’s description matches the senator.
The 39-year-old suspect was already under court undertakings to keep the peace so he will also be charged with breach of conditions, Gatineau police said.
He is also to be charged with possession of drugs because, police said, a small amount of cocaine was found on him.
Another person, a 50-year-old man who is a friend of the woman, was the victim of threats from the 39-year-old man, police said.
The 50-year-old man will face assault charges following a complaint from the 39-year-old.
Mr. Brazeau was charged last year with assault and sexual assault after a dispute with a woman where he is alleged by police to have ripped her clothes and grabbed her breasts in an aggressive way.
A trial date in that 2013 case is to be set in Quebec Court on Friday.
He was released on $1,000 bail and ordered not to enter into contact with the alleged victim.
Mr. Brazeau was named to the Senate in late 2008, then the youngest face among the Prime Minister’s 18 appointees. The former National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples was appointed to represent Quebec.
But questions have since surfaced about the expense claims of Mr. Brazeau and others in the Senate. In February, Mr. Brazeau was charged by the RCMP with fraud and breach of trust in a case relating to his Senate expense claims. He’s accused in that case of claiming expenses on a primary residence in Maniwaki, Quebec, despite spending the majority of his time in the National Capital Region around Ottawa.
Mr. Brazeau had been ordered to repay nearly $50,000, the lowest sum among the senators involved in the expense scandal, but he declined and saw his wages garnisheed until his suspension in early November – he, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin were suspended, all of them senators appointed as Conservatives. A fourth involved in the Senate expense scandal, Liberal senator Mac Harb, has since retired from the Senate. Mr. Harb was also charged by RCMP in February.
Mr. Brazeau will be eligible to resume sitting in the Senate after the next election, until age 75, unless suspended again, though the Conservative government that appointed him has asked the Supreme Court to rule on what powers it has for Senate reform, including term limits.
In the meantime, Mr. Brazeau began managing an Ottawa strip club in February, one that’s steps from Parliament Hill.
Patrick Brazeau arrested for assault, cocaine, threats - The Globe and Mail
A day before a trial date was to be set for his 2013 assault case, Patrick Brazeau was arrested Wednesday night for an alleged incident of domestic violence.
The suspended Conservative senator is expected to faces new charges of assault, cocaine possession, uttering threats and breach of conditions after an alleged fight with a former girlfriend.
Police in Gatineau, Que., said they got a call for domestic disturbance at 3:53 a.m. Thursday. At the scene, officers saw that a woman and a 39-year-old man had been fighting on the house balcony.
The 39-year-old man was arrested for assault “in the context of conjugal violence,” Gatineau police said in a statement.
The man was taken into custody at the local police station. His name wasn’t immediately released, pending his court appearance this morning. However, several media outlets have identified him as Mr. Brazeau and the suspect’s description matches the senator.
The 39-year-old suspect was already under court undertakings to keep the peace so he will also be charged with breach of conditions, Gatineau police said.
He is also to be charged with possession of drugs because, police said, a small amount of cocaine was found on him.
Another person, a 50-year-old man who is a friend of the woman, was the victim of threats from the 39-year-old man, police said.
The 50-year-old man will face assault charges following a complaint from the 39-year-old.
Mr. Brazeau was charged last year with assault and sexual assault after a dispute with a woman where he is alleged by police to have ripped her clothes and grabbed her breasts in an aggressive way.
A trial date in that 2013 case is to be set in Quebec Court on Friday.
He was released on $1,000 bail and ordered not to enter into contact with the alleged victim.
Mr. Brazeau was named to the Senate in late 2008, then the youngest face among the Prime Minister’s 18 appointees. The former National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples was appointed to represent Quebec.
But questions have since surfaced about the expense claims of Mr. Brazeau and others in the Senate. In February, Mr. Brazeau was charged by the RCMP with fraud and breach of trust in a case relating to his Senate expense claims. He’s accused in that case of claiming expenses on a primary residence in Maniwaki, Quebec, despite spending the majority of his time in the National Capital Region around Ottawa.
Mr. Brazeau had been ordered to repay nearly $50,000, the lowest sum among the senators involved in the expense scandal, but he declined and saw his wages garnisheed until his suspension in early November – he, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin were suspended, all of them senators appointed as Conservatives. A fourth involved in the Senate expense scandal, Liberal senator Mac Harb, has since retired from the Senate. Mr. Harb was also charged by RCMP in February.
Mr. Brazeau will be eligible to resume sitting in the Senate after the next election, until age 75, unless suspended again, though the Conservative government that appointed him has asked the Supreme Court to rule on what powers it has for Senate reform, including term limits.
In the meantime, Mr. Brazeau began managing an Ottawa strip club in February, one that’s steps from Parliament Hill.
Patrick Brazeau arrested for assault, cocaine, threats - The Globe and Mail
