A 19-year-old bearing a five-inch scar across the front of his neck, said the judgment was fair in the sentencing of the young man charged with his attempted murder.
Nicholas Martin, also 19, returned to court Tuesday after being found guilty of the offence in September of last year.
Although absent for the duration of the sentencing hearing, Dan St. George, the victim, came to hear Martin's sentence.
“It's pretty fair. The judge was fair, he considered both sides,” St. George said after hearing Superior Court Justice Rob Gordon's ruling, which put Martin back in prison for the next three years.
According to police, the incident stemmed from a fight, which broke out between the two men at a house party at 916 O’Neil St. W. in Garson on Nov., 24, 2006. During the argument, a long, kitchen knife was produced and Martin slashed the St. George across the neck. The victim was taken to St.Joseph’s Health Centre where he underwent emergency surgery.
Martin was scheduled to appear in court last November, however, while on his way to court, he refused to cooperate with police and spat on one of the officers – a sergeant, with the tactical unit – who was one of four armed officers escorting him to court. After being pushed against a wall, and then to the ground, Martin remained non-compliant with the officers and was tasered three times as a result. Due to the circumstances, the sentencing date was pushed back to December.
However, when the session resumed on the later date, Martin's lawyer, Louis Sola, was granted an adjournment on the grounds his client's charter rights had been breached when he was tasered.
“Mr. Martin's rights have been infringed by the police,” Sola said in December, adding every individual has the right to life, liberty and justice and that would encompass not being tasered.
“He has the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual treatment or punishment,” the lawyer said.
Sola sought an application, in this week's proceedings, for a stay of charges against his client because of the tasering incident. However, after two days of testimony, Justice Gordon dismissed the application, ruling the tasering incident was unrelated to the attempted murder conviction on the fact the conviction had been entered months prior.
The Crown asked for a sentence of eight years to be imposed on Martin, while the defence requested two to four years, with consideration being given for the time his client had already served.
Justice Gordon determined a sentence of five years and six months was appropriate, but gave Martin a two-to-one day credit for his time served, up until the tasering incident.
He attributed two of the four month delay to Martin's refusal to attend court Nov. 28, only giving him a one-to-one credit for that period of time.
For the attempted murder charge, Martin received 30 months in prison, followed consecutively by six months for his three breaches of probation orders. He will also be prohibited from possessing any fire arm or prohibited weapon for a period of 10 years following his release, and because of a conviction of attempted murder, a DNA sample will be taken from him.
Gordon explained to Martin his reasoning for the sentence.
“You have the intelligence necessary to function productively in society,” he told the young man. “Whether you can harness that intelligence to disentangle yourself from a life of crime is debatable, but I'm not willing to write you off yet.”
Martin is also facing a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Jeffrey Mason, who went missing Nov. 17, 2006. Mason's home and car were both found destroyed by fire the same day.
