In our courts
By Steve Bilodeau
Court hands down prairie justice to kidnapper
The female victim went to her bank in Rosetown, Saskatchewan
and made a withdrawal. When she left, a 22-year-old man pointed a sawed-off
rifle at her and forced her into his vehicle. He tied her up and sexually
assaulted her repeatedly. After arriving in Calgary, he used duct tape
to cover the victim's mouth and took her to his apartment where he again
sexually assaulted her. While in captivity in his apartment, the victim
eventually escaped and lead police to her captor. He pleaded guilty to
kidnapping and sexual assault. A psychiatric report found the offender
to be psychotic and delusional, but not to the point of being not criminally
responsible. In addition to the 11 months spent in pre-sentencing custody,
the Court sentenced him to 14 years in jail with an order that he must
serve at least half of the sentence prior to being eligible for parole.
R. v. SCHIRA -
Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary;
May 14, 2004.
Guilty pleas are hard to shake
A man was charged with hit and run after a collision. He pleaded
guilty to a lesser charge of failing to report a collision. After his
plea he looked at a photograph of the vehicle that he was driving and
noticed that in the picture no paint was missing. He appealed his conviction
saying that he should not have pled guilty since Crown could not have
proved that he did anything wrong. The Court rejected his appeal for
the reason that "a plea of guilty from a sane and sober individual who
understands the consequences of his plea is a sufficient basis on which
to base a conviction." Furthermore, the photograph was not new evidence
as it was available prior to his plea of guilty.
R. v. STINSON -
Court of Queen's Bench, Edmonton;
May 4, 2004.
Murderers shouldn't threaten their wives
After killing the victim, the offender told his wife what he
had done and threatened her that if she or the children said anything
about it they would be "taken out." The Court of Appeal ruled that there
was nothing wrong with the trial judge viewing this statement as a threat
against the wife; therefore, she was able to give evidence for the Crown
against her husband. In addition, the Crown called evidence that the
offender confessed to the murder of five other people. All of this added
up to enough evidence to counter his defence, which was that he did not
remember where he was on the afternoon of the murder, but that he did
not do it. His appeal on conviction for first-degree murder was dismissed.
R. v. SCHELL -
Court of Appeal of Alberta, Edmonton;
May 3, 2004.
*For more interesting court cases see Criminal Prosecutions - Criminal Case Bulletins.
