PETER SMALL
Jun. 9, 2005. 06:37 AM
A
heroin addict who had a "tumultuous" love affair with his former
doctor has been sentenced to five years in prison after he trashed her North
York condo and stabbed her fiancé.
Christopher Dalton, 32, turned toward a handful of court spectators, shook his head and smiled yesterday, minutes after Justice Mary Lou Benotto also sentenced him to three years of probation and urged him to try to turn his life around.
A jury found him guilty in April of aggravated assault, uttering death threats, forcible confinement and other charges, but acquitted him of attempted murder in the stabbing of Brett Zeran on Jan. 10, 2004.
Zeran's fiancée, Dr. Michelle Horonczyk, faces professional misconduct charges before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in relation to her affair with Dalton. Her disciplinary hearing begins Nov. 7.
Horonczyk treated Dalton at a Toronto methadone clinic in 2002, but he testified that the treatment ended when he went to serve a prison sentence in Ottawa in January 2003.
While he was in jail, the doctor wrote him 30 love letters, and after his release in the spring of 2003 they began an affair that continued on and off over the rest of the year, court heard.
"The relationship was tumultuous," the judge said yesterday.
Horonczyk tried to keep the affair a secret from her boyfriend, Zeran, but he found out after Dalton called, Benotto said.
Horonczyk and Dalton met at a hotel on Jan. 9 last year, but his mood was soured by news that his teenaged daughter had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. They each went to their separate homes, but at about 3 a.m. the next day he broke into the condo the doctor shared with Zeran, cut off her hair, destroyed furniture and held her captive, the judge said.
When Zeran came home at about 6 a.m., Dalton stabbed him, but the injuries were not life-threatening.
The judge noted Dalton's good education and supportive family but added that he entered into a "life of crime" despite these privileges. After being credited for pretrial custody, Dalton's effective remaining sentence is 22 months. He is likely to be released after serving two-thirds of that sentence.