GUELPH–The son of Canadian music legend Tommy Hunter pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting his father in their Puslinch Township home.
Mark Hunter, 41, will be sentenced Jan. 27.
Assistant Crown attorney Janine Hodgins said police were called to the home shortly after midnight on Oct. 17.
Tommy Hunter said his son had come home from work about 11:30 p.m. and the pair started arguing. Mark Hunter approached his father and shoved him, causing him to fall. Tommy Hunter went downstairs to call 911, but his son followed and pulled the phone out of the wall, court was told.
The argument continued upstairs, with Mark Hunter throwing a candlestick, damaging the refrigerator door. Eventually Tommy was able to get to the garage, where he called police from his cellphone.
"Tell me it's not the Canadian icon Tommy Hunter," Justice Norman Douglas said after the facts were read in.
"It is," Hodgins replied. "I asked you not to tell me that," the judge said quietly.
Tommy Hunter's age was given as 63 in court, but according to his website, the entertainer, known as Canada's Country Gentleman, is now 71.
The Tommy Hunter Show debuted on CBC television in 1965 and ran until June 1992, making it the longest-running weekly variety show in the world.
He continues to perform, and in early January will begin a brief tour of Ontario and Western Canada.
Defence counsel John Kieffer said his client suffers from mental health issues.
Kieffer asked for a presentencing report and told the judge he will lobby for a conditional discharge, which would not leave Mark Hunter with a criminal record.
"I won't recuse myself because I'm a Tommy Hunter fan," Douglas said.
The entertainer was not in court yesterday.
