A former educational assistant has pled guilty to assault in another incident with a man with special needs.
Corey Stibbard, 34, was initially charged with two charges: one of assault with a weapon and another of assault. On July 8, the assault-with-a-weapon charge was dropped after he pled guilty to the assault.
“He pleaded (guilty) to the lesser charge. The facts of the plea were that it was self-defence, but that he used excessive force to defend himself,” said Stibbard’s lawyer Mitch Eisen said.
According to a release from the Barrie police, in Aug. 2018, a 25-year-old Barrie man had been a passenger in the backseat of a vehicle when he was assaulted.
The altercation occurred while the accused had been driving, which resulted in the accused striking the victim, an autistic man, with a steel water bottle. The victim did sustain substantial but non-life-threatening injuries to his head and face.
On July 8, Stibbard received a suspended sentence of two years probation and a five-year weapons prohibition.
In April of 2017, Stibbard was convicted in the assault of Riley Dooley, a 20-year-old special needs student who was in his care during a trip to a local dollar store, breaking his leg.
He also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to pay a witness to lie for him. He was fired from his position at the Simcoe County District School Board over the incident.
Stibbard was sentenced to 12 months in jail and one year of probation. He was still on probation at the time the new charges were filed on Aug. 9.
On Wednesday, Eisen said Stibbard no longer works with people with special needs.
“He works in a completely different field,” he added.
