Lobster dealer acquitted in intimidation case, will seek bail

A 66-year-old lobster dealer in southwest Nova Scotia has been found not guilty of intimidation in a 2024 case involving another buyer, one of a number of similar allegations against him that have fallen short in court in recent weeks.

Judge James Burrill on Friday acquitted Eric David Thibault in provincial court in Digby, N.S., finding that while he and his son demanded to know whether a lobster exporter wanted to “go to war,” the words could be interpreted with ambiguity and it was not proven to be a threat of violence.

The trial was held late last month, just days after three other cases of intimidation against Thibault, dating from 2023 to early 2025, were dismissed because witnesses had not been subpoenaed and none showed up to court to testify.

Thibault has been held in custody since his arrest in November on newer charges stemming from an undercover RCMP investigation last year. In that case, he is accused of cocaine trafficking, conspiracy to commit arson, intimidation and dangerous driving.

However, Thibault will seek bail next month. A bail review hearing is set for July 8 in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax, where a judge could agree to release him pending trial on the charges from late last year.

The ruling on Friday dealt with the case of Geoffrey Jobert, the operator of the Lobster Hub Inc. in Meteghan, N.S., who testified that Thibault and his son, Zacharie Thibault, were in a pickup truck when they flagged him down as he was driving home.

He testified they were upset he was buying lobster from a particular fisherman and unhappy he’d spoken out in the days prior about a “crime family” in the area, although Jobert had not publicly named the father and son at that point.

Jobert testified the pair said, “Do you want to go to war?” Audio of some of what happened was captured on a video recorded by Jobert’s spouse, but the camera was aimed at a car seat and not at the Thibaults.

In his decision, Burrill said Eric Thibault was clearly trying to intimidate Jobert to stop him from buying lobster from a local fisherman.  But he said the charge’s wording requires that Thibault threatened Jobert with violence.

The judge said the defence argued that going to “war” could be interpreted as a business threat, not necessarily a violent one.

“Of course, we all know that with regard to the use of the words ‘go to war,’ we have to be living under a rock if we hadn’t heard the term ‘trade war’ in the last few years,” Burrill said. “And of course, we’ve heard people speak of a ‘war of words.'”

Burrill said he was left with reasonable doubt that it was a threat of violence. He said Jobert told the court he interpreted the words to mean “something bad might happen,” testifying it could be violence or it could be damage to his property.

Burrill also acquitted Thibault of breaching a 2024 release condition. He had been prohibited from going to any business place that conducted wholesale fisheries transactions, but was spotted by a Department of Fisheries and Oceans officer outside BMC Seafoods in Meteghan.

The location also had a retail seafood market, and Burrill said there was no evidence Thibault entered the wholesale side of the operation.

In a further case, Thibault was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail, deemed served due to his time in pre-trial custody, for an assault with a weapon related to a 2023 incident at the Freshmart parking lot in Comeauville, N.S.

Prosecutor Kathleen Hutchinson told the court that Thibault had called police that day, saying another man had almost hit him with his vehicle.

An RCMP officer went to Thibault’s home, but he provided few details, and the constable subsequently reviewed video surveillance footage from the Freshmart.

The video, the court was told, showed Thibault twice driving back and forth in his pickup truck, preventing the other man from stepping into his SUV. When he did manage to get in, the two drivers started hitting each other.

Defence lawyer Allan MacDonald said the other man incident was akin to a “bumper car situation,” and that Thibault is remorseful.

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