Case of Regina man caught on street with sawed-off shotgun and bulletproof vest finally concludes

The case of a Regina man convicted of walking down a city street wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a sawed-off shotgun is finally over.

Stuart Michael George Sabiston was arrested in 2019 after members of the Regina Police Service gang unit spotted him walking in a neighbourhood police said is known for gang activity. 

The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court, and then back to the province's Court of Appeal.

Sabiston was convicted on several firearms charges, including possession of a loaded prohibited firearm without a licence, possession of a firearm while prohibited and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. He was sentenced to a five-year jail term.

But he successfully appealed to the province's highest court, where two of the three justices voted to overturn his conviction, ruling the police did not have reasonable cause to search him. .

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That appeal went to the Supreme Court. The justices there agreed with the original trial judge, and sent the case back to the Court of Appeal.

It sentenced Sabiston to three-and-a-half years.

"Subtracting a credit of 18 months for time spent in pre-sentence custody leaves a global sentence of two years. Mr. Sabiston has already served this disposition, having served a period of 1,150 days or 38 months in custody," wrote Justice Brian Barrington-Foote in the Jan. 8 decision.