"Looking back in hindsight, I shouldn't have had the gun," Salt told the judge
When a photograph of Jeffrey Salt pointing and reloading a rifle with ammunition nearby was posted on Facebook on Feb. 11, 2019, the man was in big trouble.
That’s because Salt, at the time, was serving a 10-year weapons ban issued in 2017.
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Someone who knew Salt and the firearms ban he was under tipped Greater Sudbury Police off about the photograph on March 17 of that year.
Salt then turned himself in to the police, telling officers “I knew this was going to happen.”
In Sudbury court, Salt, 55, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm without a licence.
Ontario Court Justice Pierre Bradley, accepting a joint sentencing submission by the Crown and defence lawyer Denis Michel, issued a four-month conditional sentence.
He also issued a one-year probation order and a five-year weapons ban that will kick in when the current one expires.
“Looking back in hindsight, I shouldn’t have had the gun,” Salt told Bradley. “It was a mistake.”
The conditional sentence includes a condition that Salt does not possess or consume alcohol, or illegal drugs. The probation order has a condition that he takes counselling as directed.
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In his sentencing submission, Michel said Salt “turned himself in almost immediately, took responsibility for the incident, and does not dispute the facts.”
Michel said that when the incident occurred, Salt was sighting the rifle for another person.
“It was someone else’s rifle,” said the lawyer. “He understands the seriousness of the situation of a weapons prohibition.”
As a result of the guilty plea, the Crown dropped two other charges Salt was facing.
hcarmichael@postmedia.com
