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A youthful aboriginal first-time offender is sentenced to eight months imprisonment for an unprovoked and violent street robbery.
The accused pleaded guilty to robbery involving an unprovoked, violent attack on the victim in which the accused and a co-accused beat the victim repeatedly, causing physical injury and significant emotional trauma.
The court imposed an eight-month custodial sentence followed by 12 months probation with conditions including abstinence from alcohol and drugs, anger management programming, restitution, and a curfew.
The court balanced mitigating factors including the accused's youth, lack of criminal record, early guilty plea, remorse, and supportive family background against the serious nature of the offence and the need for denunciation and deterrence.
Sentence set aside for failure to apply Gladue principles.
The appellant appealed a conviction for assault causing bodily harm and a sentence of 60 days’ intermittent incarceration.
The appellant argued the trial judge failed to properly apply the credibility framework from R. v. W.(D.) and provided insufficient reasons for rejecting defence evidence.
The court held that the trial judge considered the whole of the evidence and did not shift the burden of proof, and the conviction appeal was dismissed.
However, the sentencing judge failed to conduct a Gladue analysis despite the offender being Indigenous, contrary to s. 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code.
The sentence was therefore set aside and the matter remitted for a new sentencing hearing.
