A 22-year-old Collingwood man was sentenced this week to 90 days behind bars, after earlier pleas to assaulting a stranger and resisting arrest.

Kyle Grahn – who had to be Tasered into submission – was granted intermittency Tuesday.

A two-year period of probation with terms will follow custody. The court re-heard some of the evidence at the sentencing hearing, including trial lawyer Cecile Applegate’s submissions on behalf of her client.

“This offence is out of character,” she began, adding: “He drank an excessive amount of alcohol that night, and is not normally confrontational. He went up to a perfect stranger, and beat him up.”

Mr. Justice Roland Harris reviewed the offences before the court, dating from incidents on Feb. 14, 2007 at the Olco gas station on Hume Street.

The victim, who was in the store buying a Pepsi while his wife waited outside, heard himself called “a gaylord”, and then was told by Grahn that he would see him “outside.”

The victim “thought he was kidding” until the defendant “pinned him between the wall and the garbage can, punching his head,” Harris read.

Collingwood officers were called by the victim’s wife. They found Grahn with slurred speech, glazed eyes, and a pronounced odour of alcohol on his person.

A struggle ensued with the arresting officer, who took the accused to the ground in an attempt to cuff him. However, Grahn continued to struggle despite a warning that he would be tasered if he did not desist. He chose to ignore the advice.

The judge went on to cite the principles of sentencing – among them “motivation by bias or hate remarks, (here) about ‘gaylord’.”

“You were just trying to be as vile as you could,” he said.

Grahn was ordered to stay away from the victim and his family, as well as the gas station in question. In addition, he will be subject to both DNA sample-taking and random samples to ensure abstinence from alcohol or drugs.

As a final term, Harris imposed a 200-word letter of apology, to be forwarded to the victim via the probation officer.