GATINEAU, Que. — Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau is facing new legal challenges following what police are describing as a violent domestic disturbance early Thursday.
Just a day before a court date was to be set in another assault case against him, Brazeau arrived at the Gatineau courthouse in handcuffs hours after police responded to a 911 call.
Wearing a dark green shirt, black jacket and pants and dress shoes, Brazeau was escorted into the courthouse from a van with dark tinted windows.
He is charged with two counts of assault, uttering death threats, cocaine possession and breach of bail conditions.
Police said a 39-year-old man was arrested after an incident that took place around 4 a.m. at a home in Gatineau.
“It was an altercation between a man and a woman,” said Gatineau police spokesman Pierre Lanthier.
Personal belongings were strewn about in the back yard of the residence at 452 Labrosse Blvd., including clothing and what appeared to be childhood pictures of Brazeau.
Personal letters addressed to him fluttered in the wind and music CDs, Canadian Tire money and a memorandum on Senate letterhead were scattered on the ground near a doorway.
Lanthier said officers who went to the scene found that a violent confrontation had occurred on a patio in front of the residence, where a woman complained of being assaulted.
Another man who was inside the house, also complained he was assaulted and threatened.
Brazeau faces other legal problems.
In February, the RCMP charged him with fraud and breach of trust in relation to his Senate expense claims.
In another case, Brazeau is charged with assault and sexual assault over an incident at his home in February 2013.
A year ago, the Senate ordered Brazeau to pay back almost $50,000 over disputed expense claims. He refused, and the Senate garnisheed his salary until last November, when he was suspended without pay.
Brazeau’s lawyer, Gerard Larocque, refused to comment Thursday on the latest charges.