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Not that I need any more convincing that the title of this thread says it all but this one is just pathetic.........
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2006/11/17/2390876.html
By TOM BRODBECK
A Winnipeg man got only seven years in prison in an incredibly disturbing case that's been described as a "house of horrors" and which made national headlines this week.
It's a case that earns a local judge the latest Eight-Ball Award.
A 35-year-old man and his 26-year-old common-law wife were convicted of numerous sexual assaults against two young girls. They kidnapped one of them and repeatedly raped the girls in their North End home in a case that's as despicable as they come.
One of the girls was tied down, her hands held by the woman, while the man raped her.
The man was convicted of three counts of sexual assault, two counts each of kidnapping and forcible confinement and one count of uttering threats. The woman was convicted of two counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement.
It's a case that cries out for a lengthy penitentiary term -- at least 18 years for the man as the Crown had asked.
Even the man's lawyer called the offences "heinous crimes against children."
Court had a moral responsibility to denounce these crimes and denounce them loudly.
The victims were children whose lives may have been ruined forever. As a society, we simply cannot stand for this.
Instead, Justice Gerald Jewers sentenced the man to only seven years in prison, after three years of time served in custody. And the woman, incredibly, got time served. Which means she walked away a free woman.
It was a sentencing decision of catastrophic proportions.
And it earns Jewers this column's Eight-Ball Award, given out to highlight some of the worst perversions of justice in our court system.
Jewers made a colossal error in handing out such lenient sentences.
He put such little weight on the sentencing principles of deterrence and denunciation that it's frightening.
Jewers had a responsibility under the Criminal Code to ensure the sentences were proportionate to the severity of the crimes.
He failed miserably to discharge that responsibility.
And spare me the case law argument that his hands were tied and he could only go as far as he did.
Jewers' sentence pales in comparison to one handed out by Manitoba Judge Mary Kate Harvie last year, who sentenced Nicholas Dean Sennie -- the monster who savagely raped a five-year-old girl in 2003 -- to 18 years in prison (three more than the Crown had asked for).
Her decision held up at appeal after Sennie dropped his appeal bid.
This week's case was similar to the Sennie case. Both involved rape, both involved kidnapping and both involved children.
The only difference is Harvie took a stand in the case before her and meted out appropriate justice.
Jewers did not, even though the male offender showed no remorse in the case, calling the charges against him "crap."
This is what we mean when we say the justice system is broken.
This is why judges like Jewers get Eight-Ball Awards.
This is why people are demanding the federal government bring in harsher penalties for violent crimes because some of these judges are so out of touch with the values of Canadians, there is no other option.
We know the bar associations don't like Eight-Ball Awards or the move toward harsher sanctions for violent crimes.
And I'm sure they'll fire off yet another pathetic, illogical letter to us in the wake of this latest Eight-Ball.
But too bad. This has to end.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Brodbeck is the Sun's city columnist. He can be reached by e-mail at: tbrodbeck@wpgsun.com.
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@wpgsun.com.
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2006/11/17/2390876.html
By TOM BRODBECK
A Winnipeg man got only seven years in prison in an incredibly disturbing case that's been described as a "house of horrors" and which made national headlines this week.
It's a case that earns a local judge the latest Eight-Ball Award.
A 35-year-old man and his 26-year-old common-law wife were convicted of numerous sexual assaults against two young girls. They kidnapped one of them and repeatedly raped the girls in their North End home in a case that's as despicable as they come.
One of the girls was tied down, her hands held by the woman, while the man raped her.
The man was convicted of three counts of sexual assault, two counts each of kidnapping and forcible confinement and one count of uttering threats. The woman was convicted of two counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement.
It's a case that cries out for a lengthy penitentiary term -- at least 18 years for the man as the Crown had asked.
Even the man's lawyer called the offences "heinous crimes against children."
Court had a moral responsibility to denounce these crimes and denounce them loudly.
The victims were children whose lives may have been ruined forever. As a society, we simply cannot stand for this.
Instead, Justice Gerald Jewers sentenced the man to only seven years in prison, after three years of time served in custody. And the woman, incredibly, got time served. Which means she walked away a free woman.
It was a sentencing decision of catastrophic proportions.
And it earns Jewers this column's Eight-Ball Award, given out to highlight some of the worst perversions of justice in our court system.
Jewers made a colossal error in handing out such lenient sentences.
He put such little weight on the sentencing principles of deterrence and denunciation that it's frightening.
Jewers had a responsibility under the Criminal Code to ensure the sentences were proportionate to the severity of the crimes.
He failed miserably to discharge that responsibility.
And spare me the case law argument that his hands were tied and he could only go as far as he did.
Jewers' sentence pales in comparison to one handed out by Manitoba Judge Mary Kate Harvie last year, who sentenced Nicholas Dean Sennie -- the monster who savagely raped a five-year-old girl in 2003 -- to 18 years in prison (three more than the Crown had asked for).
Her decision held up at appeal after Sennie dropped his appeal bid.
This week's case was similar to the Sennie case. Both involved rape, both involved kidnapping and both involved children.
The only difference is Harvie took a stand in the case before her and meted out appropriate justice.
Jewers did not, even though the male offender showed no remorse in the case, calling the charges against him "crap."
This is what we mean when we say the justice system is broken.
This is why judges like Jewers get Eight-Ball Awards.
This is why people are demanding the federal government bring in harsher penalties for violent crimes because some of these judges are so out of touch with the values of Canadians, there is no other option.
We know the bar associations don't like Eight-Ball Awards or the move toward harsher sanctions for violent crimes.
And I'm sure they'll fire off yet another pathetic, illogical letter to us in the wake of this latest Eight-Ball.
But too bad. This has to end.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Brodbeck is the Sun's city columnist. He can be reached by e-mail at: tbrodbeck@wpgsun.com.
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@wpgsun.com.