Sentencing of a military veteran found guilty of three counts of assaulting his ex-wife on separate occasions in 2020 and 2022, and one count of mischief.
The court found that the accused's 20 years of Canadian Forces service, including multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as a Special Forces member, his documented traumatic brain injuries and PTSD, and the significant collateral consequences of a conviction on his military career and veteran benefits, constituted exceptional mitigating circumstances.
The court held that the accused's moral responsibility was lessened by service-related concussions and PTSD.
Despite the seriousness of intimate partner violence and the predominance of denunciation and deterrence in such cases, the court granted a conditional discharge with 18 months of probation, finding that a custodial sentence was unnecessary in these unusual circumstances.
