COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
RE:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Respondent) v. BLAIR SWANEK (Applicant/Appellant)
BEFORE:
MCMURTRY C.J.O., DOHERTY and MACFARLAND JJ.A.
COUNSEL:
James Lockyer
for the applicant/appellant
P.G. McDermott
for the respondent
HEARD:
February 7, 2005
On appeal from the sentence imposed by Justice David G. Stinson of the Superior Court of Justice dated December 4, 2001.
E N D O R S E M E N T
1A solicitor’s appeal from conviction by the appellant was dismissed with reasons released on February 14, 2005 (C39541). Through inadvertence, an inmate appeal from sentence was not addressed by the court at that time.
2The appellant was convicted of two counts of robberies and related offences, including the use of a firearm while committing an indictable offence. He received sentences totalling eighteen months to be followed by probation for eighteen months. The appellant was also given a credit of eighteen months for his nine months in pretrial incarceration. The sentences were imposed on December 4, 2001 and were entirely served about a year before the appellant’s conviction appeal came before the court.
3It would seem that no purpose is served by reviewing the fitness of the appellant’s sentences years after those sentences have been fully served. In any event, the sentences imposed were appropriate. While the appellant was only nineteen at the time of the offences and was not the prime mover, these offences were serious. They involved robberies of clerks working alone late at night in small establishments. An imitation firearm was used and the appellant brandished a large knife in one of the robberies. A significant jail term was required to reflect the seriousness of the offences. The probation period imposed by the trial judge was also appropriate given the offender’s age and his rehabilitative prospects.
4The appeal from sentence is dismissed.
“R. McMurtry C.J.O.”
“Doherty J.A.”
“J. MacFarland J.A.”