COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
Armstrong and Watt JJ.A. and Then J.
BETWEEN
Her Majesty the Queen
Respondent
and
Kevin Rodrigues Costa
Appellant
Joseph Di Luca, for the appellant
Holly Loubert, for the respondent
Heard orally: February 23, 2012
On appeal from the conviction entered on February 16, 2011 and the sentence imposed on June 1, 2011 by Justice J.F. Kenkel of the Ontario Court of Justice, sitting without a jury.
APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT
1The appellant appeals his convictions for aggravated assault (x 1) and assaults with a weapon (baseball bat) (x 2) and seeks leave to appeal his sentence of 18 months.
2On conviction, the appellant argues that the trial judge misapprehended the evidence in relation to an argument between the appellant and one of the complainants and that the trial judge imposed a higher standard of scrutiny to the evidence of the appellant than that used to assess the evidence of the complainants.
3We disagree. The record at trial does not support these grounds of appeal.
4In respect of sentence, counsel for the appellant concedes that the sentence is within the range but that the trial judge failed to take into account the unblemished character of the appellant, the good psychological assessment of the appellant and his many charitable works.
5While we recognize these factors, so did the trial judge and we see no basis to interfere with the trial judge’s unique role in sentencing.
6In the result, the conviction appeal is dismissed, leave to appeal sentence is granted but the sentence appeal is dismissed.