Original article no longer available
Edmonton Sun
July 5, 2007
ELIZA BARLOW, SUN MEDIA
A local military member who gave his wife a scare when he switched antidepressants was handed a conditional discharge.
Pte. Steven Richard Gold, 32, pleaded guilty Wednesday in provincial court to uttering threats and careless storage of a firearm in the Jan. 17 incident.
Court heard Gold was living on the base but went to his wife’s Lancaster Park home that night to play with his two-year-old son.
While there, he told his wife that if he killed her that night he would probably get away with it because he could plead insanity.
His wife got scared, particularly because there was a rifle and ammunition in a closet in the home.
Military police were called in and Gold was arrested the next morning.
Court heard that Gold’s behaviour had become increasingly erratic in the days leading up to the incident, likely because he had switched to a different antidepressant.
Gold, who works in a military investigations department, told court his actions were out of character.
“This was a one-time incident … It’s not me, it’s not something that I would normally do.”
Under the conditional discharge, Gold was ordered to have no contact with his wife and forfeit the seized rifle and ammo.
eliza.barlow@sunmedia.ca