REGINA – A Regina man may have been joking when he said he had hired someone to kill his ex-girlfriend, but the law doesn’t always have a sense of humour.
"There must have been some concern there," Judge Marylynne Beaton told Duncan Robert Smith in Regina provincial court Monday. "It was more than just drunken talk."
Smith, 46, pleaded guilty to threatening for an incident where he drunkenly told a friend he had paid $400 to have his ex-girlfriend killed. Smith’s friend then called the police.
Defence lawyer Barry Nychuk told court Smith had been involved in a long, tumultuous relationship with the victim, and became upset after she texted him to say she was "running off with another guy."
The lawyer said Smith then got extremely drunk and made the statement.
Beaton accepted the joint submission for an 18-month conditional discharge, during which Smith cannot have contact with the victim except to arrange visits with their children.
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