WESTLOCK – Multiple domestic assaults fueled by alcohol and prescription drug abuse over a five-year period ended in two years of probation and $3,200 in fines for a 37-year-old Westlock man.
In Westlock Provincial Court Dec. 7, Bradley Steven Campsall pleaded guilty to two charges of assault, plus a count of breaching his release conditions. Although initially leery, Judge Jacqueline Schaffter accepted a joint-sentence submission from Crown prosecutor Brett Grierson and defence lawyer Nicole J. Stewart that will see Campsall serve 24 months of probation, which includes drug and alcohol addictions counselling, plus pay $3,000 in fines and $200 in victim-fine surcharges by Dec. 6, 2023. Campsall, who’s also barred from contacting his former partner and her daughter for the next two years, was also banned from owning any weapons for the next decade.
“Assaults, certainly in a domestic situation, are something the court takes very seriously,” said Judge Schaffter. “Denunciation and deterrence in domestic assaults are the most important elements, but I’m not going to interfere with this joint submission as it’s a settlement that’s been negotiated with all parties, including the victims. And I don’t want to cause any more stress for the victims particularly.
“I think this is a strong sentence. Twenty-four months is a long time to be bound by conditions and to continue reporting in and to have no contact. And the fines are significant.”
Grierson admitted there was “a lot of back-and-forth negotiation” on the resolution as Judge Schaffter initially asked why Campsall, who had a previous conviction for theft under $5,000 from 2019, wasn’t heading to jail — Stewart confirmed a jail sentence was “on the table originally.”
“After speaking with the victims, they were eager to have this resolved in this way. They’ve communicated to me that they want to put this behind them … essentially there was a lot of emotional turmoil as a result of these charges,” said Grierson. “They are supportive of this resolution definitively.”
Stewart said Campsall, who was born and raised in Kingston, Ont. before moving out west 15 years ago, had no intention of the case going to trial in February 2023 and wanted to spare his former partner and her daughter from having to testify. Stewart said while the relationship “was not healthy in both directions” Campsall fully admitted to the assaults. Although he didn’t address court directly, Stewart did read an apology from the man.
“To both of you, I’m so sorry for all the pain I’ve caused. I don’t want your lives to be hurt or you to be hurt anymore. I wish I could have done things better. I wish I could have gone back, but I can’t. So, the best I can do is take responsibility for my actions and make sure you don’t have to step foot in this courtroom and go through any more trauma,” reads the letter. “For (name redacted) I am so sorry that you trusted me to be your dad and I didn’t do it right. I love you so much.”
The crimes
Grierson told court that on July 31, 2021, Westlock RCMP received a complaint of “historic domestic assaults” by Campsall against his former fiancé and her daughter — the two had been in a relationship for seven years. Stewart told court that while Campsall admitted to the crimes he didn’t remember all of them as he “was extremely intoxicated” on a mixture of alcohol and Ativan, a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines usually prescribed to treat anxiety.
Court heard that in 2015, Campsall placed his then-fiancé in a headlock and “squeezed until she lost consciousness” and later pushed her into a wall and then into a washing machine. Grierson said that in the spring of either 2019 or 2020, the daughter heard the two arguing in the bedroom and the woman “was crying and asking him to let her go.”
“He was intoxicated on alcohol. They were in the doorway in the bedroom, and he had her arm held against the door frame and the metal hinge cut into her arm and left a scar,” said Grierson. “The daughter then jumped on to his back and got him off and the woman ran in the bedroom and shut the door to keep him out.”
Then in September 2019 or 2020, Grierson said Campsall and the woman were again arguing in the bedroom and after spitting at each other he grabbed her arm “and started squeezing it.”
“The daughter intervened and shoved him off of her mother and out of the bedroom and kept her body against the closed door to keep him from re-entering.”
In April 2021, Campsall was drunk and “hip-checked” the teen into the wall and then leaned against her to keep her in place and “left a red mark on her chest and she was in pain during the incident.”
Finally, on Nov. 7, 2022, RCMP were alerted that Campsall had phoned the woman, a breach of his release conditions.
“For context, it was his daughter’s birthday, and he made the mistake of calling, knowing full well he was on conditions (not to call) and it’s important to put on the record that he did call me right away and said that he messed up and shouldn’t have made the call,” said Stewart.
