Michel Laurent Bisson

The offender was convicted of aggravated assault after striking a taxi driver with a metal rod while acting jointly with a co‑accused who punched the victim and knocked him to the ground.

The victim suffered a fractured skull, a coma lasting several days, lengthy hospitalization, rehabilitation, and permanent loss of smell.

The court considered aggravating factors including the unprovoked group attack, use of a weapon, severe and lasting injuries, the vulnerability of taxi drivers, and the offender’s lengthy criminal record and lack of remorse.

The court addressed parity with the co‑accused’s lesser sentence but held that mitigating factors available to the co‑accused did not apply.

Applying principles of denunciation and deterrence, the offender was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with credit for pre‑trial custody on a one‑for‑one basis.

The accused was charged with aggravated assault after striking a taxi driver with a metal rod and kicking him while he lay unconscious after being punched by a co‑accused.

The defence claimed the taxi driver attacked first with a baton and that the accused neither struck nor kicked the victim.

The court rejected the accused’s testimony and that of the co‑accused, finding it inconsistent with physical evidence and the credible testimony of three independent eyewitnesses.

The court held that hitting the victim on the head with a metal rod and kicking him while unconscious created objectively foreseeable bodily harm and formed part of a joint assault with the co‑accused.

Although the permanent loss of smell was attributed to the co‑accused’s punch, the accused’s participation made him a party to the aggravated assault under s. 21(2) of the Criminal Code.