A couple of items to note:
A serial rapist who escaped custody and broke into a Toronto librarian's home, sexually assaulting her at knifepoint, has been spared from being declared a dangerous offender.
Instead, Ontario Superior Court Justice Arthur Gans sentenced Richard Lavallee to 14 years in prison, followed by 10 years of close supervision as a "long-term offender."
Lavallee, 52, suffers from a psychosexual disorder and has raped seven women, mainly older than him at the time. But he can be controlled in the community provided he gets treatment and close supervision, the judge said.
... He has 40 criminal convictions and has spent more than half his life in jail.
In 1995, he escaped from custody a third time and broke into the 42-year-old librarian's home in east Toronto. He threatened her with a knife and attempted to have sexual intercourse, leaving her cut and bruised. He was only arrested on this sexual assault in 2005 after his DNA was matched to blood in her car, which he stole.
But his behaviour over the past 10 years has improved and his advancing years appear to be diminishing his criminal urges, the judge said.
Bravo! Perhaps the eighth woman he rapes will have better luck.
The day after admitting he killed a woman and dumped her body on a rural road, a St. Catharines man was released from jail.
Judge Stephen Glithero sentenced Wayne Ryczak, 55, to one day in jail yesterday for the death of 29-year-old Stephine Beck. The one-day sentence is in addition to time Ryczak served since his March 5, 2007, arrest – time the judge said was equivalent to 30 months.
"Devastated, we're devastated," Beck's mother, Alice Dort, said from her Nova Scotia home. "This is just so unbelievable. There's no justice. None whatsoever."
The Crown asked for seven to 10 years in jail. Ryczak's lawyer requested two years less a day to be served in the community.
Glithero said a 30-month sentence would be appropriate and Ryczak had served it. He was also given three years' probation.
Excellent! Let's see - he's arrested in March 2007 and sentenced in May 2008 - a period of 14 months, and yet the court finds that he "had served" 30 months. Shouldn't the details of this amazing discovery be shared with the rest of us, and not limited to just convicted criminals?
Please keep reporting these judgements.
Posted by: cosmic | June 10, 2008 at 10:34 PM