div class=headlineh1Ex-Eskimo Braidwood jailed 4-12 years for weapons, sex assault chargesh1divdiv c
Photograph by:Brian GavriloffEDMONTON - A former Edmonton Eskimo, whose knee injuries led to an addiction to prescription painkillers, was led into custody Friday after being sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison for sexual assault and careless storage of a firearm.
Adam Braidwood played for the Eskimos for five years as a defensive lineman. His lawyer told an Edmonton court that after two significant knee injuries, Braidwood became addicted to prescription drugs and was under the influence of drugs on Dec. 2, 2010 when he got into a prolonged, violent argument with a girlfriend in their Edmonton home.
The 28-year-old British Columbia native arrived in Court of Queen’s Bench clean-shaven and holding the hand of his current girlfriend, who cried through much of the court proceedings. His victim, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, was not in court.
“This is clearly, as you describe it, the lowest point in your life,” Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin,
Oakley Mframe, who accepted a joint submission for the sentence, told Braidwood about his actions.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Braidwood and a girlfriend got into a heated argument that escalated over several hours. At one point, the woman locked herself in the bathroom. After threatening to break down the door, Braidwood entered the room, shoved the woman into a bathtub, leaned over her and said, “Do you know who I am? I will kill you.”
Braidwood stands six-foot-four and in 2010 weighed about 270 pounds, according to statistics for that football season.
Braidwood told the woman he had taken a large quantity of Valium, said Crown prosecutor Scott Niblock,
Oakley Jawbone, who read the agreed facts into court.
As the argument continued, Braidwood took a pistol from their room, put one bullet in the chamber, spun it, and asked her if she had “ever played chicken before.” Braidwood pointed the gun at his foot and pulled the trigger but the gun did not fire.
He then put the gun in his mouth but his girlfriend managed to take the weapon away. She rubbed his neck in an attempt to calm him, but Braidwood started to choke her, court heard. He stopped only when she started to gasp for air.
Police arrived at the home the next morning after the woman sent several texts to her family. Police found an improperly-stored pistol in the home,
Oakley Crosshair.
Braidwood sat beside his lawyer with his head down while the facts were read Friday.
Defence lawyer Matthew Nathanson said the drug use is “not an excuse” for what happened that night, but perhaps “an explanation” of Braidwood’s behaviour, which he called “entirely out of character for my client.”
Court heard Braidwood has been enrolled at a treatment centre and would like a long-term plan for treatment upon his release.
“His football days are over,” Nathanson said, adding that Braidwood will likely seek employment in the oil industry after his sentence.
Braidwood declined to address the court but his lawyer submitted an apology letter, which was partially read into court. In the letter, Braidwood apologized to his victim, his family, the Edmonton Eskimos, and the community.
“This is a person who trusted me to take care of them and keep them safe,
Oakley Military,” Braidwood wrote of the former girlfriend who had described the football player as someone she thought she would marry.
He wrote that he would “always feel guilty” for hurting her. He apologized for bringing negative attention to his career and “tearing into the fabric of this community.”
Braidwood’s legal troubles began in Nov. 2010, when he was one of three men charged with the kidnapping and assault of a 20-year-old Stony Plain man, whom RCMP said had been locked in the trunk of a car.
Braidwood was also charged with possession and discharge of a firearm in a Vancouver suburb in Sept. 2011.
Braidwood started his Canadian Football League career in 2006. In April 2011, the Eskimos announced they were releasing him from his contract, citing a mutual agreement.
Braidwood had also fought professionally in a mixed martial arts league.
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