Woman faced blood-covered stranger in apartment, judge hears

The loud sound of breaking glass awoke a Sault Ste. Marie woman to her worst nightmare.

She found a stranger, covered in blood and holding a large piece of glass, in her Church Street apartment.

It was shortly before 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 20, 2021.

The glass in the entrance door had been smashed and "there was a copious amount of blood there" and more blood in the kitchen, a judge heard Tuesday.

"Get out, please don't hurt me," the hysterical woman screamed. "Take what you want, just don't hurt me."

The intruder was "breathing heavily and not making sense," assistant Crown attorney Blair Hagan said, reading from the victim's statement to police.

"There was blood all over the door, the window, the kitchen as well as my bedroom."

The six-foot, 160-lb man, who "looked scary and unstable," told the woman to call police, the prosecutor said.

Lucas McHugh, 37, pleaded guilty to break and enter to commit mischief and unlawful confinement in connection with the incident.

The woman, who was already on the phone with 911, told him an ambulance was on the way.

McHugh told her his name, Ontario Court Justice John Condon heard.

She locked herself in the bathroom, and was "crying, scared and desperate" when McHugh announced police had arrived.

As she watched the officers come through a window, she said she was still in shock and crying.

This was "my worst fear about living in the downtown area," she told police. "I was scared he was going to kill me."

McHugh was taken to Sault Area Hospital where be was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

At the request of defence lawyer Adrienne Hagan, sentencing was adjourned to Nov. 15 so that a pre-sentence report can be prepared.