Man sentenced to six years for 'deeply disturbing' jail stomping

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A New Brunswick man was sentenced Monday to six years in prison for a beating so vicious the victim was left with permanent brain damage.

Mathieu Terrance Myers, 38, of Saint-Louis-de-Kent at the time of his arrest, was initially charged with attempting to murder Scott Patterson on Feb. 9, 2021, and also assaulting correctional officer Alyssa Beers during the same incident. He eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and also admitted assaulting the guard.

A sentencing hearing was held before Court of King’s Bench Justice Christa Bourque on March 27, with prosecutor Pierre Gionet asking for eight years in prison for the assault on Patterson and an additional year for the assault on the guard, while defence lawyer Alex Pate asked for a total of five years for both.

The judge adjourned sentence until Monday and with Myers standing in the prisoner’s dock she sentenced him to six years for the aggravated assault and an additional four months for the assault on the guard. The judge also banned him from having guns and weapons for life and ordered him not to have contact with Patterson, his spouse or the jail guard during his sentence.

Myers told the court in March that he has five years left to go an an unrelated sentence, so the prison term imposed Monday will be consecutive to that sentence.

During the sentencing hearing, the Crown played videos of the assault, which happened at the Shediac jail while both men were in remand. The videos were short but graphic. In Bourque’s words they depicted a scene that was “deeply disturbing.”

As the judge described on Monday, the two men approached each other in the unit, began to walk off together and then Myers punched Patterson, knocking him to the floor. Myers then kicked him in the face multiple times and stomped his head at least 10 times, pushing back Beers when she tried to intervene.

The victim was left in a pool of his own blood with a fractured skull and multiple facial fractures. Bourque said as Myers was held after the attack he yelled: “Is he dead? Die, die, (expletive) die!”

Patterson was left in a coma, hospitalized for a time and then spent months in a rehabilitation facility. He is now in the care of his spouse with permanent brain damage that has affected his memory, ability to speak and walk.

Myers had told the court Patterson shot him in the hand several months before they met up in jail and he attacked Patterson out of fear for his own safety.

In finding the right sentence, Bourque said she had to weigh the extreme violence, the catastrophic injuries and Myers’ prior record of violence with his guilty pleas and expression of remorse and regret in court. The judge said even though Patterson was in jail, that doesn’t mean he had any less right to be safe from harm.

“Every citizen, whether free or not, is deserving of protection,” said the judge.

Myers read a letter to the court in March.

“I understand what I did was wrong and I wish I could change it but I can’t,” he said.

He apologized to Patterson and his family, though they weren’t in court. He also told the judge his life went down the wrong path due to addiction and mental health issues and he will work on himself during his sentence.

“I’m determined to make this my last time in prison,” he said.