Dr. Joe Beitchman

The young person was serving the community supervision portion of a youth sentence for manslaughter when he was arrested and charged with trafficking heroin and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

His conditional supervision order was suspended, and the matter was referred to the youth justice court under s. 108 of the YCJA.

The court reviewed the suspension under s. 109 of the YCJA.

Acknowledging the young person's progress in education and employment, but emphasizing the seriousness of the deliberate and repeated breaches involving drug trafficking, the court ordered the suspension of the conditional supervision to be continued for four months, after which the young person may be released on the original conditions.

The young person pleaded guilty to sexual assault with a weapon, robbery, wearing a disguise with intent, assault with a weapon, and breach of recognizance.

The Crown applied to have the young person sentenced as an adult under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The court found that a youth sentence would not be of sufficient length to hold the young person accountable given the extreme violence, gratuitous nature of the attacks on multiple strangers, and the young person's moderate risk to reoffend.

The court granted the application and imposed a global adult sentence of 6 years, less enhanced credit for pre-sentence custody, leaving 40 months to serve.

A young offender was convicted of manslaughter by a jury for his involvement in the fatal group beating of a 20-year-old victim.

The young offender was 15 years old at the time of the offence.

The Crown sought the maximum youth sentence of three years, while the defence sought time served plus probation.

The court applied the Ferguson principles to determine the facts for sentencing, finding that the young offender assisted in getting the victim into a car, prevented his escape at the park, and helped abandon him at the ringleader's home, where he died of internal bleeding.

The court rejected the defence of duress, finding the young offender had safe avenues of escape.

Emphasizing accountability and rehabilitation, the court sentenced the young offender to 2.5 years, with 18 months remaining to be served (10 months in closed custody and 8 months under community supervision).