A Penetanguishene man has pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon in relation to a 2024 Family Day stabbing in Tiny Township's Balm Beach that left the victim with life-threatening injuries and required him to be airlifted to a Toronto hospital.
Jake Taylor, 34, was originally charged with attempted murder.
Dressed sharply in a crisp suit, Taylor briefly addressed the court in Barrie to apologize.
“I’m really sorry and thankful for the opportunity to resolve this today,” said Taylor, who was supported by his mother in an otherwise empty courtroom.
The joint submission – a plea deal – was arrived at between Crown attorney Jenna Dafoe and Taylor’s lawyer, Kimberly Miles. It was accepted by Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst.
The victim and Taylor were known to one another and the court heard that there had been a previous incident at the accused’s residence that involved a rock being thrown through a window.
Court heard that Taylor emerged from his apartment when the victim returned to the scene and stabbed him once in the back just before midnight on Feb. 19, 2024.
Police were called and one the officers on scene drew his weapon upon finding Taylor still armed with a knife. Taylor immediately discarded the weapon, court heard.
He was arrested, telling officers on scene to contact his mother to take care of his dog.
Found face down and in serious peril with an inch-deep wound, the victim was transported first to Georgian Bay General Hospital in nearby Midland and then to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto by air ambulance.
Though the victim recovered, Dafoe pointed out that such fortunate outcomes don’t always happen.
“There are a lot of organs and arteries” that can be damaged that lead to a more tragic outcome in similar cases, Dafoe told court.
The climb-down from the more serious charge, and then the withdrawal of an aggravated assault count against Taylor, was due to a few reasons, Dafoe said.
Taylor pleaded guilty, avoiding a trial that had been slated for next year, and the victim’s unwillingness to co-operate.
“The victim in this case was not supportive of this prosecution,” said Dafoe, “…and there is a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation.”
Taylor spent a week in jail before making bail and has been on varying degrees of house arrest since, which means he will have effectively served about 40 months of house arrest by the time his sentence is completed.
Court heard that Taylor has had some rough luck in his life, dropping out of school in Grade 9 to support his mom, who had just lost her husband, Taylor’s stepdad.
Taylor worked in the building trade until he was 28, when he was diagnosed with a chronic condition that makes him susceptible to various cardiovascular risks, strokes included.
Taylor lives alone with his dog, with whom he is permitted an hour a day to walk while on strict house arrest. Conditions will be relaxed after one year to a more conventional curfew.
Taylor is also permitted five hours on Wednesdays to leave his residence to obtain the necessities of life, which is a standard aspect of conditional sentence orders (CSO), the legal term to describe house arrest.
The victim did not attend court and did not offer a victim impact statement.
