R. v. Hunda, 2008 ONCA 244
Citation: R. v. Hunda, 2008 ONCA 244 Date: 2008-04-04 Docket: C47318
Court of Appeal for Ontario Doherty, Moldaver and Cronk JJ.A.
Between: Her Majesty the Queen (Respondent) and Craig Hunda (Appellant)
Counsel: Michael W. Lacy for the appellant Peter Scrutton for the respondent
Heard: April 3, 2008
On appeal from the sentence imposed by Justice George T. Valin of the Superior Court of Justice on April 19, 2007.
Appeal Book Endorsement
[1] The trial judge "jumped" the joint submission of two years followed by probation for three years and imposed a sentence of four and a half years. The trial judge recognized the importance of joint submissions and the need to giving effect to those submissions unless doing so would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. He was satisfied that the recommended sentence fell well below the minimum sentence appropriate in all the circumstances. He fixed that minimum at four years. In doing so, the trial judge identified numerous serious aggravating factors, two of which are specifically identified by Parliament as aggravating factors. This was a domestic assault during which the appellant held a knife to the victim's throat. He did so after forcing his way into her home. The appellant was on probation at the time for offences committed against the same victim. His criminal record includes over fifty convictions, including several assault offences. He even continued to contact the victim after his arrest on the break-in charges.
[2] We are satisfied that the trial judge did not err in concluding that the joint submission fell far below the minimum jail term that could appropriately be imposed in all of the circumstances. We are, however, satisfied that the trial judge, given the joint submission, should have imposed a sentence at the bottom of the appropriate range. We would impose a total sentence of four years. To do that, we would vary the sentence on the break and enter, count one, to two and a half years. This results in a total sentence of three years on top of the six months pre-trial for which the trial judge gave one year credit resulting in an effective global sentence of four years.