Sarnia man sentenced for ‘vile’ and ‘disgusting’ vomit bucket assault

Disgusting and vile were two words used to describe Christopher Garvin’s puke bucket-based assault.

Garvin, 60, told the judge directly that what he did was plain foolishness.

“Sorry?” Justice Krista Lynn Leszczynski asked, unable to catch what he said across the courtroom.

“Plain foolishness,” defense lawyer Terry Brandon repeated for his client in a louder voice. “Stupidity is the word he used with me earlier.”

“Yeah,” Garvin agreed with his lawyer.

Leszczynski said it was aggravating he assaulted someone with bodily fluid, “especially at a time during a pandemic.”

The incident took place around 11 pm on Sept. 10, 2021, inside The Inn of The Good Shepherd. Garvin wasn’t feeling well that Friday night and had a bucket at his bedside filled with vomit.

But he became angered by his roommate, who was talking to himself, so he got up, grabbed the bucket and tried to hit him with it, although he missed his target.

“He regrets that he snapped in that moment,” Brandon said. “He sees how awful that is.”

Along with assault, Garvin was also convicted of theft after nearly $2,000 of items were stolen from The Home Depot in Sarnia. But he managed to stay out of jail via a suspended sentence based on one year of probation.

Leszczynski agreed to impose the sentence both sides suggested due in part to Garvin’s long criminal record that abruptly stopped 14 years ago.

“Mr. Garvin, I very much hope that what we saw in these two incidences was an anomaly since 2009 and it’s not beginning another start to a lengthy criminal record,” she said.

The other incident took place on Jan. 18, 2022, when a loss-prevention officer at the Quinn Drive big-box store noticed two suspects loading a trio of items into a black Chevrolet Impala without paying for them. The items included a pair of paint sprayers worth more than $1,000 combined and a 76-centimeter cabinet and sink valued at about $700.

Garvin, who was identified on video surveillance, was the only person arrested and charged, although Brandon said he was caught up in the wrong crowd and didn’t benefit financially from the heist.

“Thought that doesn’t forgive it, it just puts it in a very different context,” she said to the judge.

Her client is also homeless and struggles with addiction and mental-health issues, she added. Still, assistant Crown attorney Sarah Carmody asked for a $1,720.10 restitution order as the stolen property wasn’t recovered.

Leszczynski said she appreciates it’s a significant amount of money for Garvin, but added he needed to be held responsible for what he did.

“Our local businesses and crimes against them are not victimless crimes,” she said.

Garvin is banned from going back to the store via the probation order or contacting the man he threw the bucket at unless they’re both using a local social agency.

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@ObserverTerry