A London, Ontario, man has been sentenced to 60 days behind bars for criminal harassment involving a Windsor 2SLGBTQ+ advocate.
Bubba Christopher Pollock was sentenced Friday morning in a packed Windsor courtroom.
Pollock had close to a dozen supporters with him including his wife and father.
In June 2023, Pollock drove to Windsor and took a selfie next to Britt Leroux's dying father as he lay unconscious in a palliative care bed at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare after he got into an online argument with Leroux over a failed protest opposing an event that had drag queens reading stories to kids.
Leroux's father died weeks later of pancreatic cancer.
In January 2024, Pollock pleaded guilty to harassment and in July, court heard sentencing submissions and victim impact statements where Leroux had said the incident 'changed the course of her life forever.'
An emotional Britt Leroux spoke to reporters outside the courthouse following the sentencing.
"I'm kind of shocked," says Leroux. "Realistically I didn't think he would get any jail time with the 25 letters of support but I can believe this is going to be over now. That's kind of what's more unbelievable to me that I won't have to come back and deal with this anymore and I can grieve my dad."
Leroux, who was wearing her father's shirt, held his ashes and was surrounded by her husband, friends and supporters.
While answering questions, some of Pollock's supporters were heckling her and her supporters.
Leroux doesn't believe jail time will do anything for Pollock.
"I think he needs intense therapy," says Leroux. "I think he needs like maybe a mental health hospital or some type of treatment or rehabilitation would do much better because I don't think if anything, he's going to learn more bad habits in jail."
Following the judge's ruling Leroux got emotional inside the courtroom and after seeing Pollock taken into custody.
She said "it's hard to understand why I feel bad."
"I don't know why but for some reason I felt this guilt when I saw the look he gave his wife, he kind of looked over at her and I know he was saying good-bye and it was, I felt bad, I'm a human still," says Leroux. "He did terrible things to me but I can see past that. I can see that, there's something wrong with him.
Leroux says she can now grieve her dad.
"In the moment in the elevator, I looked up and I just felt this light on me and we were in a dark elevator and it was like, my dad was just kind of saying like, it's okay, it's done, you fought hard for me, you protected me and it's okay now to let it go Britt," says Leroux.
Pollock has also received three years of probation and has to provide a DNA sample.
He needs to pay about $1,900 in restitution and has to stay 100 metres away from Leroux.
During July's sentencing submission hearing, the Crown asked for a six month sentence plus three years probation, while the defence argued for a three year suspended sentence with probation or a conditional sentence with community service.
Pollock's legal counsel did not comment after today's sentencing.
