Man sentenced to 5 years after biting woman's ear, eyebrow

A Kent County man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in jail after admitting to biting off parts of a woman's earlobe, breast and eyebrow.

The victim, whose name is protected by a publication ban, told police that James Edward Mazerolle of Saint-Louis-de-Kent assaulted her for 2½ hours by punching, scratching and biting her face and breasts in front of her two children.

Mazerolle was found guilty in Moncton provincial court of aggravated assault and unlawful confinement.

On Oct. 26 last year, the victim's brother called the police after finding the woman beaten and bloody.

RCMP found Mazerolle, 41, wandering the streets of Saint-Louis-de-Kent wearing only beige pants with his abdomen and chest covered in dried blood "as well as his nostrils and his forehead," said Crown prosecutor Melanie LeBlanc.

Mazerolle was also found guilty of unlawful confinement for pinning the victim down during the attack and not allowing her to escape.

During most of LeBlanc's remarks in court, Mazerolle had his head in his arms.

When Judge Paul Duffie asked him if the events were true, Mazerolle said he couldn't remember. But since he was pleading guilty, he said, he was admitting to everything.

LeBlanc said that when he was picked up by police, Mazerolle had a "blank stare."

When he was handcuffed and placed in an RCMP vehicle he told police, "I did something I never should have done."

At the police station, Mazerolle cried and said the blood on him was not his, LeBlanc said.

The victim told police that Mazerolle tried to choke her. When he left the room, she was able to message her mother to come over.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she still has nightmares and fears, and the injuries she suffered are a constant reminder of what Mazerolle did.

Mazerolle's attorney Sylvain Pelletier, said his client was under the influence of drugs when he committed the assault, but he didn't specify what drugs. He said Mazerolle takes medication for "bipolar mood disorder," which mixed with drugs caused severe paranoia.

But paranoia caused by drugs is not a defence under the Criminal Code, so he plead guilty, Pelletier said.

After getting credit for time spent in custody, Mazerolle's prison sentence will come to four years and four months.

'You could have killed them'

Mazerolle expressed remorse before the judge sentenced him.

"I'm not that person," he said. "I don't remember any of it. I don't remember days before it or two weeks after it. I woke up strapped to a bed. I was unconscious to my mind. All I can say to her family is I'm so sorry. That's it."

Duffie called it "one of the saddest cases I've ever seen."

"When I hear your remarks that you don't remember any of it, that's scarier. ... You say that's not you but it is you, if you put yourself in a state or get in a state where you can't remember. ... There are children there, you could have hurt them, you could have killed them."