In sentencing a local man to six months in jail for perjury Tuesday, a judge said CanadaÂ?s criminal justice system simply canÂ?t function properly when witnesses lie while under oath.
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Stephen Carosi looked visibly shaken when Justice Richard Humphrey sentenced him to six months in jail after finding him guilty of committing perjury during a preliminary hearing last year.
Carosi was a key Crown witness in an aggravated assault trial against another Sudbury man accused of stabbing a patron outside a bar.
When Carosi was called by the Crown during the preliminary hearing, he offered a much different version of events from what he told police during the investigation into the stabbing.
The Crown eventually had to withdraw charges of aggravated assault against the man accused of the stabbing.
Why Carosi changed his evidence was not explained during a court appearance last week. An officer from the Greater Sudbury Police Service testified he believed someone may have threatened Carosi if he testified against the man accused in the stabbing incident.
Humphrey ruled Tuesday perjury is an extremely serious charge and one the courts must come down hard on to
ensure the administration of justice does not fall into disrepute.
Â?Keith Lacey
