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Depressed and drinking – Metro US

Depressed and drinking

Port Coquitlam Mayor Scott Young was depressed, off his medication and was extremely intoxicated when he barged into his ex-girlfriend’s converted-garage gym and assaulted her and her friend, his lawyer said yesterday.

Last month, Young pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and one count of breaching a court order to stay away from Colleen Preston.

In his pockets were two four-metre lengths of rope, similar to the one his teenage daughter used to hang herself in 2002.

At his sentencing yesterday, defence lawyer Richard Peck described Young as a caring parent who had devoted two decades of his life to public service and who suffers from depression and alcoholism.

Preston and Young met and started dating in 2006. They vacationed together in Hawaii and even got matching tattoos depicting a runner and a sun.

With the end of the relationship in February 2007, Young began to suffer deep depression, anxiety and angst.

In the week before the assault, he stopped taking his anti-depressants and began to drink.

On April 4, before the assault, Young drank four or five glasses of wine, and while staring at a photo of his deceased daughter became grossly intoxicated, Peck said.

Young attended a seven-week alcohol treatment program in the Sunshine Coast and attends weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Crown and defence are asking for a conditional sentence of nine months to be served in the community, followed by a probation period of between six and 16 months. Young will be sentenced next month.
jeff.hodson@metronews.ca