An Elliot Lake man had just gone to bed on Jan. 17, 2022 when he heard someone knocking on his Chalmers Crescent door.
It was a little after 11 p.m., so it took him by surprise.
What he saw on his security camera was terrifying, like something out of a horror movie.
An individual dressed all in black — wearing a Jason-style hockey mask and carrying a long gun — kicked in his front door.
He came into the bedroom, knocked over the camera, demanded money and left with $45 — all the cash the victim had.
On Wednesday, a Sault Ste. Marie judge viewed a video of the perpetrator kicking in the door, and although his interaction with the victim wasn't caught on camera the court could hear the man's screams.
Daniel Parker pleaded guilty to 27 charges, including 10 offences related to the home invasion. All the offences took place in December 2021 and the first month of 2022.
"You were engaged in a reign of terror between Sault Ste. Marie and Thessalon," Ontario Court Justice John Condon told the 32-year-old man.
Referring to the video, the judge said he could hear the "trauma and anxiety" in the victim's screams" when "you entered his home and menaced him with a rifle."
He sentenced Parker to a five-year penitentiary term, accepting a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.
With an enhanced credit (1.5 days for each day he has spent in pre-sentence custody) Parker faces a further 1,000 days in a federal prison..
"It's important for you to know and understand there are real people behind what you do," Condon told him. "You violated people's homes, their place of peace and comfort."
The judge urged Parker "to think about the long-term effect you have had on some of your victims."
Condon said he "put people in their homes at risk, people on the highways at risk and police officers who tried to deal with you at risk."
The offences stemming from the home invasion were: pointing a firearm, possession of a long gun without a licence, break and enter to commit assault with a weapon, using a firearm and threats of violence to commit a robbery, using a firearm and violence to get money, possession of a firearm while prohibited, and mischief (for damaging the victim's door).
He was bound by several court orders at the time, and also was convicted of three counts for violating them.
The court heard the victim describe the home invasion as traumatizing, and that he didn't know who the masked man was.
When police responded to the armed robbery they located a machete near the residence, prosecutor Marie-EveTalbot said.
Parker also pleaded guilty to five charges stemming from incidents that occurred two days later on Jan. 19, 2022 in Sault Ste. Marie and the Township of the North Shore.
These offences included theft of a vehicle, which was stolen in the Sault and located in the township east of here, possession of stolen property, and obstructing police by giving an officer a false name.
On Jan. 24, 2022, OPP officers spotted a man standing on a road in Thessalon, and recognized Parker.
When they told him he was under arrest, he ran and a struggle ensued, the court heard.
It took three officers to get Parker into the cruiser, and when he was searched they found brass knuckles and small amounts of crystal meth, fentanyl and oxycodone, Talbot said.
He also had a knife, gloves, a mask (not the one used in the home invasion), bank, credit and debit cards and jewelry.
The accused pleaded guilty to drug possession, resisting police and failing to comply with a release order.
Parker also was convicted of seven offences that occurred in Aweres and Goulais townships on Dec. 9, 2021.
These crimes included counts of possession of stolen property, break and enter, driving while prohibited and flight from police.
The Crown pointed to a number of aggravating factors when she outlined the lawyers' sentencing recommendation.
She cited Parker's four-page criminal record, which began in 2011 and has been consistent since then, as an aggravating factor.
The home invasion — "a very serious, horrific crime" — has had a severe impact on the victim, Talbot said.
In a two-month period, Parker committed all sorts of crimes involving violence and victimizing more than 10 people, the prosecutor said.
Defence lawyer Eric McCooeye called his client's pleas of guilt significant, because the complainant was unable to provide any information identifying the perpetrator at the preliminary hearing.
"All the Crown is left with is a short video," he told Condon
"There was no forensic evidence" to link Parker to the incident.
"The mask he had at the time of his arrest was not the same as the one in the video."
McCooeye also called the sentence a "very significant" one that is "merited because of the nature of the offences."
Parker has served relatively short periods of incarceration in the past, such as eight months, and "now we’re talking about five years."
When he was arrested he was in "the throes of addiction which drove all of this," the defence said.
Parker told the judge he wants to tell "everybody this affected that I'm sorry."
He said the time he will be serving will help him to deal with his drug addiction.
Condon urged him to think about his victims while he's incarcerated.
"These are not victimless crimes. Real people were hurt by your actions."
The judge also imposed a life-time weapons prohibition, a five-year driving ban and ordered him to provide a DNA sample.