Self-defence claim denied in wrong suite assault

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This article was published 07/02/2025 (562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a night of drinking, Liam Barron returned to his Brandon apartment building and fumbled with his keys as he tried to open the door to his suite.

When a stranger opened the door from the inside, Barron lunged at the man, grabbed him by the throat and tried to pull him into the hallway.

But the stranger was no intruder; Barron had the wrong suite.

In a written decision released last week, a judge convicted Barron of one count each of assault and choking to overcome resistance.

That Barron mistakenly attempted to enter the wrong suite wasn’t in dispute, said provincial court Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta. At issue was who assaulted who. Hewitt-Michta said she rejected Barron’s claim he was acting in self-defence.

“No doubt (Barron) subjectively believed the home was his own, but he acted provocatively and aggressively,” she said. “He was persistent. His intentions were offensive, not defensive. He wanted in that home. (The victim’s) use of force was measured and appropriate to the threat the accused posed.”

Barron, 25, was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and fined $550.

The victim lived with his fiancé and infant child in a second-floor suite; Barron lived in a suite directly above them.

The victim testified at trial he was asleep on a couch when he awoke to the sound of keys jingling and someone trying to unlock his apartment door. The man said he opened the door and told Baron he had the wrong apartment, to which Barron replied: “This is my apartment,” before lunging at the man and grabbing him around the torso.

The men grappled with each other as Barron tried to pull the other man into the hallway, the victim testified. Barron grabbed the man by the throat and choked him for 15-20 seconds before the victim’s fiancée came to the door and told Barron he had the wrong apartment.

“It was at this point the accused seemed to look at the apartment number, then leave in the direction of a nearby stairwell,” Hewitt-Michta wrote.

Barron testified when the man opened the door, Barron asked what he was doing there before the man tackled him into the hallway in a bear hug.

Barron said he called out a neighbour’s name for help and yelled “fire” hoping to draw someone’s attention. Barron said he tried to push the man away and walk into the apartment before the man took him to the floor and held him down for a short time. He said he managed to break free and ran down the hallway. It was only when he reached the stairwell that he realized he had the wrong apartment.

Barron’s testimony was “self-serving” and his alcohol consumption “negatively impacted both his behaviour and recall of the incident,” Hewitt-Michta said.

“The complainant was in his own apartment…. He just wanted the accused to go away,” Hewitt-Michta said. “The accused wrongly believed there was an intruder in his apartment. He was the one with the motive to instigate the altercation and I am convinced that he did so.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca