Her Majesty the Queen v. Jules Meawasige, 2021 ONCJ 145
DATE: February 23, 2021 Information No.: 2811-998-19-25390-02 2811-998-21-33617-00
ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
B E T W E E N:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
v.
JULES MEAWASIGE
Reasons for Sentence
OF THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE P.C. WEST
On February 23, 2021, at OSHAWA, Ontario
INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN CANNOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST OR TRANSMITTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 486.4
APPEARANCES: K. Myge Counsel for the Crown B. Funston Counsel for Jules Meawasige
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2021
Pre-Sentence Address
THE COURT: Mr. Meawasige, you don’t have to say anything to me, before I pass sentence, but if you want to say anything else, sir, this is your opportunity to say whatever you would like to say.
JULES MEAWASIGE: I just want to like apologize to the victim as well, and to everybody that was involved in the case.
THE COURT: Okay.
JULES MEAWASIGE: I’d like to – if you see my record, I’ve never been on any charges like this before, so I am very – I’m very ashamed of what I did and I just had a very bad judgment, mixed with the alcohol and I am ashamed, and I – I do apologize for what has happened.
THE COURT: I appreciate you saying that sir. I’m going to say the following to you. Probably the most important decision you make in life, most important decision you make in life, is who your friends are and when you started hanging out with Mr. M.R., having regard to what he was engaged in with Ms. L.H., and how he was using her and how he was manipulating her, you got into a situation, and then when you add in your difficulties with alcohol, right...
JULES MEAWASIGE: Yeah.
THE COURT: ...I think that those are important things.
JULES MEAWASIGE: My partner pointed out the same things.
THE COURT: Right, and I...
JULES MEAWASIGE: [Indiscernible].
THE COURT: ...guess the only other thing I will say to you is it sounds to me like you have embraced, to some extent, your Indigenous heritage. I think there is of real value for you, because I think it will put values into your life. You are only 30 years of age. You have got a lot of living left to do. You can use this time. I realize that jail is not – it’s never an easy thing to serve, but I realize it is more difficult right now. But I will say to you that the conduct you engaged in with this “D.”, and I know the original allegation also involved Mr. M.R., but that got changed in Ms. H.’s evidence during the preliminary inquiry. You were there. I don’t know what condition you were in. I know that the facts indicated you were under the influence of alcohol as well. You are going to have some time not to be consuming alcohol. So, as I say, you have got to make wise decisions in the future. You have got to think before you say, “I want to have this person as my friend.”
You have told me that you are a Muslim as well. I will say to you as well, very, very good values. If you follow that religion, make it part of your life along with your Indigenous background. Those are two things that can stand you in good stead, sir, in terms of your future and whether you are going to be back before a judge again, but that decision has to come from you. You have to decide you don’t want to drink anymore at all. You have to make that decision, not your partner. You can’t do it for your child. That won’t be enough. You have to decide inside that you don’t want to drink anymore, whatever place you have to go to inside.
Madam clerk, I am going to indicate on the warrant of committal that you will send back to the jail that Mr. Meawasige is to receive attention from medical and that he is to receive medication that has been prescribed to him for anxiety and migraine headaches. That is to go, and I will initial that. Put that in red, please.
R E A S O N S F O R S E N T E N C E
Reasons for Sentence
I do not have a problem with the joint submission, sir, the 40 months. As I have indicated, you heard me say to your lawyer, in my view, that is a proportionate sentence having regard to the fact that you entered a plea of guilty to a serious charge. You accepted responsibility. Ms. H. does not have to testify at a trial. She testified at the prelim, but she doesn’t have to testify again at a trial. I take all of that into account, and I take into account that you saved court time. That also is to be considered as mitigation.
This was the kind of case that one never knows how it is going to go in the future, and I take that into account as well, the fact that you might have been of the view that Ms. H., who knows where she would be by the time this got to a trial, but you have decided to step up to the plate, accept responsibility and plead guilty. I think those are significant mitigating circumstances, and so the 40 months, while it could have been higher having regard to the facts that were put before me, in my view, it is a sentence that is in sort of the mid-range of any range of sentence, it would be proportionate for that kind of conduct you engaged in, and I have no difficulty in this being a 40-month sentence.
You will get credit based on R. v. Summers and under the Criminal Code for the 1.5 to 1 of 406 days of actual custody, which translates to 609 days of credit under Summers. With respect to the lockdown, there are 97 days of lockdown for the time that you were in custody, and I am going to give you one for one for each day of lockdown. I don’t draw any distinction between whether it’s under six hours or more than six hours a day. I consider it a day of lockdown, and I follow Justice McMahon in that, and I believe even Justice Goldstein and Campbell, who all indicate there should be no distinction drawn between less time in lockdown or more time in lockdown on a day. It should be a day, considered a day.
So, there will be a total of, madam clerk, and this – I’m going to give – this is the 97 days, one for one, is Duncan credit and consideration for Covid. I will tell you, Mr. Meawasige, I normally only give point five for Duncan credit, but I am taking into account Covid-19 as well. So, the total credit, madam clerk, turns out to be 706 days and that will come off total days. The total sentence is 40 months or 1,215 days and the 706 total credit will come off of that 1,215 and that will translate to a remaining sentence of 509 days and to give you some sense of what that is, Mr. Meawasige, I’ll just do one more thing of math here. That is like a year and 144 days.
JULES MEAWASIGE: Yeah. How much?
THE COURT: And 144 days...
JULES MEAWASIGE: Okay. Okay.
THE COURT: ...is the way I calculate it out when you take 365 off of 509. So, that gives you a year, and then there is 144, and as you know, you will serve two thirds of that sentence if you stay out of trouble when you are in custody, right?
Try to find out if there are programs that you can get involved in. That is one of the ways to make your time in custody go that much faster, if there are programs. If you can – I know that they have AA meetings. Maybe that is something you want to start attending. That will just put you in the right mindset and maybe line something up for you when you get out after serving your sentence. I don’t know if Central East is involved in doing education. I don’t know where you – I think you have your grade 12, but maybe there are other things that you can do online. I don’t know if they do that type of thing, but if there is, these are things that you should be looking into and speaking to some of the counsellors who are there.
There will be a SOIRA order for 20 years, a s. 109 order, which is a weapons prohibition order, for life. This is a primary designated offence under the DNA provisions of the Criminal Code, and I will order DNA. I believe you are probably already on the known DNA databank because of the robbery charge at least. The reality is, I’m making the order, but there won’t be any further DNA taken from you. As soon as they get your record, they will know that you are already on the DNA databank, but I have to make the order. There will be s. 743.21, no communication order, with L.H. or M.R.
There will be three years of probation following your release from custody. The most important term of any probation is that you are to keep the peace, be of good behaviour. It means what it says. You have been on probation a lot. You have got a lot of breaches. So, alcohol will do that. When you’re under the influence of alcohol, you’re not thinking straight, you’re not complying with any court orders that you have, so you get charged with more offences and you start serving your life on the installment plan, a month here, seven days there, two months there; that’s your record. Most of your record, other than the robbery, is petty crime, but you have been in jail a lot. Most of it is pre-trial custody because you have breached so many times that no judge, no justice of the peace is going to let you out, and you may not have anybody who can sign you out either. So, all of these are things that you should think about in terms of who your friends are going to be when you ultimately get released.
This will be a reporting probation. You will report in person or by telephone to a probation officer within five working days of your release from custody, and after that, at all times and places directed by the probation officer or any person authorized by the probation officer to assist in your supervision. Your reporting requirement will end when you have satisfied your probation officer that you have completed all of your counselling. So, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You are not going to report for three years. You take your counselling seriously, you get it done, it may only be reporting for a year, maybe less. That’s up to you. That will show how serious you are.
You will live at a place approved of by the probation officer and not change that address without obtaining the consent of the probation officer in advance.
You are not to contact or communicate in any way, directly or indirectly, by any physical, electronic or other means, with L.H. or M.R., no exceptions, and you are not to be within 100 metres of any place where you know either of those persons named above live, work, go to school, frequent, or any place you know them to be, and I will put a term in, “except for required court appearances.” Mr. M.R. has not pled guilty yet, but I anticipate he is going to be next week, but if he does not, who knows. Based on your guilty plea, you may be a witness in a trial that he might decide that he wants to have. So, I will put that exception in. That will ensure that you don’t breach your probation.
You are to attend and actively participate in all assessment, counselling or rehabilitative programs as directed by the probation officer and complete them to the satisfaction of the probation officer for – I’ll say “including but not limited to” madam clerk – alcohol abuse, and sexual behaviours. I think that’s the way it was framed by the – yes, sexual behaviour – or any other reason the probation officer deems appropriate. You will sign any release of information forms as will enable your probation officer to monitor your attendance and completion of any assessments, counselling or rehabilitative programs as directed.
I’m just going to say one last thing to you about the SOIRA order. That is the Sexual Offender Registration. You have to tell – and this is another reason why you really need to get your alcoholism under control and have a place to stay – because if you move around a lot, the unfortunate thing is you will be going to the police all the time to advise them of your change of address. Every year you have to do it. It’s a very serious offence to breach a SOIRA order, and you have to be involved in that for the next 20 years. So, just be aware that is the nature of the charge that you have pled guilty to, but it can be seamless if you don’t move a lot, and you won’t move a lot if you get a job and start to live a contributing life to the community and get your issues under control. You can start getting those issues under control over the next period of time that you are in custody. Don’t waste your time.
At Central East I can tell you, my experience has been, sir, that there are many good counsellors, either mental health counsellors, you have some mental health issues, you suffer from anxiety. Maybe there is, you know, doing some counselling with somebody who is there already. They have good addiction counsellors, and I know they have an AA group that meets and that might be people who are wanting to change their lives. That’s why people go to AA. Those would be good people to associate with. So, be careful who you associate with and I do wish you the best in the future. My hope is that this will be the last time that you are going to serve any time in custody, but it’s your decision. Nothing I do is going to matter if you decide you still want to get involved in committing criminal offences.
Any questions about the orders that I have made?
JULES MEAWASIGE: No. I’m pretty sure....
THE COURT: Well, good luck to you.
JULES MEAWASIGE: Thank you.
CLERK: Your Honour, just two things quickly. As there – the term, do not photograph or videotape any...
THE COURT: Oh, sorry, I forgot that one. Not to photograph or videotape any female person under the age of 18, with the exception for family members.
CLERK: And, Your Honour, just one other thing, is DNA to be taken in the building today?
THE COURT: Yes.
CLERK: Thank you. Is there a time for that?
THE COURT: You can put whatever time you want, by 5:00 p.m. today.
CLERK: And the remaining counts?
THE COURT: Remaining charges are withdrawn, Ms. Myge?
MS. MYGE: Yes....
THE COURT: All right. Remaining charges are withdrawn, and Ms. Myge, you don’t have to attend before me again. You just have to indicate that the forfeiture order is as I’ve anticipated it will be, is a return of the cell phone to Mr. Meawasige or his designate because there is no basis to hold it. It is not connected to the charge to which he pled guilty, and if there was a warrant that was issued by a justice of the peace to search that phone, the police obviously didn’t want to expend the funds to do that, or Ms. Newhouse, who prosecuted, didn’t ask them to, because I anticipate the phone gets seized at the point of time when Mr. Meawasige is arrested on January 13, 2020 when all this came down.
MS. MYGE: Okay. [Indiscernible].
THE COURT: You can let...
MS. MYGE: So, Your Honour, should...
THE COURT: ...you send an email to Mr. Funston and to the clerk and the clerk will advise me and then if...
MS. MYGE: Okay.
THE COURT: ...there’s a necessity of a 490 order to return it, I will make that order and Mr. Meawasige will get a copy of that.
MS. MYGE: Okay, thank you.
THE COURT: All right. And, Mr. Funston, I will have my clerk email you a copy of the 490 order as well. I anticipate that is what is going to happen.
MR. FUNSTON: Thank you, Your Honour.
THE COURT: All right. Thanks everyone for your assistance.
M A T T E R C O N C L U D E D
Certificate of Transcript
FORM 2
CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIPT (SUB-SECTION 5(2)) Evidence Act
I, Monica Mayer, certify that this document is a true and accurate transcript of the recording of R. v. Jules Meawasige in the Ontario Court of Justice, held at OSHAWA, Ontario, on February 23, 2021, taken from Recording No. 2811_409_20210223_081448__6_WESTPE, which has been certified in Form 1 by L. Labidi.
March 6, 2021 Monica Mayer