Crown calls for jail in London man’s ‘troubling’ hospital selfie case

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Describing a London man’s trip to Windsor and visit to the hospital room of a dying man as “troubling on so many levels,” a prosecutor told a judge Thursday that a term behind bars was in order.

Bubba Pollock, 35, pleaded guilty in January to criminal harassment for dropping off flowers and taking a selfie photo in the palliative care room of the complete stranger. The bedridden Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare patient’s family found out about the strange June 2023 visit after Pollock posted a photo to his social media profile.

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“He had so many opportunities to realize what a horrific thing he was about to do,” assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Holmes told a sentencing hearing. “But on he marches, right into the room, and put the flowers down next to a palliative, unresponsive man and takes a photograph.”

The intended target was the man’s daughter, Britt Leroux, who only knew of Pollock from several heated social media exchanges in the previous days over area Pride events.

In an emotional victim impact statement read in Ontario Court of Justice Thursday, Leroux said the incident has “changed the course of my life forever.”

Pollock would post his opposition online to Pride events, including drag queen storybook gatherings, and Leroux would respond as a vocal supporter of the Pride community.

With a number of news reporters also present, supporters of both Leroux and Pollock packed the public gallery in a downtown Windsor courtroom Thursday to hear the sentencing arguments of prosecution and defence. Two members of the Windsor police tactical unit were also present and had to twice intervene during disruptions between the two groups of supporters.

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Holmes asked presiding Justice Mark Hornblower to consider a sentence of six months imprisonment followed by three years probation. Such punishment was needed, she said, to deter like-minded individuals from taking passionate online disputes too far.

Defence lawyer Ron Ellis said his client believed his actions were driven by “an impulsive desire to win an argument.”

It was only later, Ellis said, that Pollock understood the true gravity of his actions, recognizing a pattern of impulsive behaviour throughout his life.

Arguing for a three-year suspended sentence with probation, or otherwise a conditional sentence with community service, the defence said Pollock’s guilty plea indicates his remorse and readiness to accept responsibility.

But Holmes argued that there was “nothing impulsive” about Pollock’s actions, which has left the patient’s daughter with a lasting sense of insecurity. 

In the posted photo Leroux’s family saw of the patient on social media, Pollock is shown smiling in the foreground with the bedridden patient, hooked up to medical monitoring equipment, in the background.

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Leroux told the court the incident left her with regret over the last 25 days of her father’s life, which she spent in fear that prevented her from visiting him every day.

In court, she held onto a box of her father’s ashes as she described being diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and being prescribed multiple medications, to manage the fear. She said she has yet to write an obituary or hold a funeral for her father.

Leroux became visibly upset in the gallery when Holmes described the events, and was comforted by two supporters wearing shirts that read Drag Storytime Guardians. She later told reporters she was overwhelmed with emotion when thinking about her helpless father when Pollock entered his hospital room.

Ellis said a “decision tree” network has been created for his client to contact certain individuals before acting on his impulses.

Ellis told the court that Pollock was “moved” after viewing a CTV News segment showing Leroux’s wedding at the hospital so her father could attend, having gone through a similar experience with his late mother.

However, Holmes dismissed this as a “ludicrous” excuse, calling it “a rotten gesture.”

Outside the courthouse after Thursday’s hearing, Pollock was surrounded by a group of supporters attempting to shield him from reporters’ cameras.

Justice Hornblower said he will announce his sentencing decision on Sept. 4.

mmazak@postmedia.com

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