"They used him as a combination punching bag and soccer ball," said Justice Eugene Ewaschuk before sentencing Jeffrey Hall and Brian Deganis in a Toronto court yesterday afternoon for the death of Paul Croutch.
"The accused literally stomped Mr. Croutch to death," said the judge, who added the savagery of the beating put to shame the violence of "soccer hooligans."
The maximum possible punishment for a conviction of manslaughter pursuant to the Criminal Code of Canada is a life sentence.
The sentences handed down in this case?
10 years for the beating death of a homeless man.
What with, I don't know - call it inflation, 10 years ain't quite what it used to be:
Based on time served prior to sentencing, Deganis, who has been in custody since his arrest, will serve five years and six months, with a possibility of full parole after serving two-thirds of the sentence.
Hall will serve 10 years and eight months and will be eligible for parole after serving between one- to two-thirds of his sentence.
In completely unrelated news, and on the somewhat tenuous theory that granting bail is at least a component of the sentencing regime:
Rahimullah Shahghasy rushed to his wife Nazifa's aid as she was being brutally stabbed to death only to die himself at the hands of a stranger in a frenzied knife attack. ... A 28-year-old remains under guard in Sunnybrook hospital in "critical but stable" condition with self-inflicted neck wounds. He is expected to be charged with two counts of second-degree murder once his condition improves. English refused to name the man, who is currently out on bail for violent crimes.
Anyone want to take odds on when one of the reporters covering this story, rather than bothering the children of the victims (""Please just get in your cars and get off my street," the couple's distraught [sic] said when confronted by media out front of the house"), or lurking around the house of the mother of the accused, will track down the JP who granted bail to the accused and say "Hey, great work! Can I get a comment?"
Comments