Judged 'Not Criminally Responsible', Yet a Community Threat

Hamilton Police

"He pulled out a knife and began stabbing her with it in the back. She was stabbed upwards of seven times and suffered a severed bicep and collapsed lung amongst other injuries."

"He resumed using cannabis during the time he was living with his parents."

"[The panel] concluded that Mr. Ghawar remained a significant threat to the safety of the public and that a detention order was necessary and appropriate. With respect to the additional privileges suggested by the hospital, the panel determined that it was appropriate to include in the disposition seven-day passes accompanied by an approved person, and seven-day passes indirectly supervised with a pre-approved itinerary."

Ontario Review Board (ORB)  

"In April 2014, Mr. Ghawar stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication, and his mental health symptoms intensified almost immediately."

"According to his family, Mr. Ghawar became very anxious and irritable, and would refuse to leave the house alone."

Hospital Report  

This is an Ontario resident who twice stabbed people multiple times in the back, and subsequently found not criminally responsible, which led to his being granted a series of day passes, despite the fact that he remains, in the professional opinion of health experts, a "significant threat to the safety of the public". 

 

Diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder "in remission in a controlled environment", Muneeb Ali Ghawar was found in February of 2024 to be not criminally responsible for aggravated assault while wearing a disguise. The second episode where he stabbed a woman took place in 2023, at a Hamilton cannabis store. 

 

He had entered the Sweet Releaf Cannabis shop on February 3, 2023 wearing a mask and a trapper hat pulled down over his forehead. A female clerk began the process of ringing up his cannabis purchase, and while she was thus engaged, the man moved behind her, and withdrawing a knife, stabbed her back repeatedly. Ghawar ran from the store when another employee screamed and called 911. 

 

Lighting up a marijuana joint. Photo by Adobe Stock

 

Ghawar was identified through studying the surveillance video at the cannabis operation where he had appeared on a previous occasion, unmasked. Six days following the stabbing he was arrested. He is now under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board for a second time. He had been declared 'not criminally responsible' for a similar attack nine years previously, when an acquaintance was stabbed in the back and torso by him. He was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward for two years then discharged to live with his family.   

"Mr. Ghawar was compliant with his medication, met consistently with the outpatient team, and maintained stable mental health. He was granted an absolute discharge on February 11, 2019."

"There has been no evidence of mood disorders or psychotic breakthrough. He engages appropriately with co-patients and staff and is always pleasant and polite during interactions."

"His persistent use of cannabis is a  significant risk factor."

"He was using cannabis at the time of the first index offence in 2014, and at the time of the current index offence in 2023. He became extremely psychotic and committed very violent offences that could have resulted in the death of either victim."

Ontario Review Board ruling  

Mental health symptoms had afflicted the man for years. He began the use of cannabis at age 15. In 2024 he was ordered to be placed at St. Joseph's Healthcare where he was given privileges whereby he could enter the community of Hamilton under indirect supervision. He has been treated for anxiety and depression since 2012 by a psychiatrist. He also has amassed a criminal record including assault, mischief, break-and-enter, and assault with a weapon.

 

A psychological assessment in 2023 revealed that Ghawar "expressed delusional thought content, such as that the victim of the index offence was selling bad cannabis to kids in order to draw them into sex trafficking", the ORB decision noted. Ghawar admitted long-standing auditory hallucinations, and that he had stopped taking his medication prior to the offence, while smoking marijuana. 

 

Sweet Releafs Inc.

 

"He again denied using cannabis, and suggested that the positive urine result was from others smoking cannabis around him", noted the ORB decision. And this is the man his parents plan to take to Pakistan to have him married there. "This would be an arranged marriage to a woman he has not met", even while his psychiatrist "expressed concern that bringing another person into the family home would increase the stress at a time when Mr. Ghawar is struggling with cannabis use".  

 

Making a Mockery of UN Nuclear Vigilance

"Electing Iran to the committee, just days after its non-compliance was referred to the United Nations Security Council, would be beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility of this body."

"[The decision represents] an affront [to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its critical screening work]." 

U.S. Ambassador Preston Wells Griffith III 

 

"[This objection by Washington is a] childish type of behaviour."

"Nuclear science, technology, expertise and industry have taken deep roots in the country and cannot be eliminated through military actions or assassinations."

"Iran will not surrender."

Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran 

Diplomats attend the Board of Governor’s Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria on September 14, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

 

As insane as it seems to anyone conscientiously following the news in the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran which should rightfully be viewed as a pariah of a nation, dedicated to establishing itself as an  unparalleled power in the Middle East while posing a threat to the greater world order with its stealth infiltration in tandem with that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Western democratic nations with a goal to undermining the values inherent in free and civil society to attain a position of theistic control through jihad by both diplomatic and violent means, has been favoured with a seat on a board overseeing the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

 

This stunning turn of events staggers belief in the function of the United Nations, already under suspicion over its focus and support of the many facets of autocracy within its membership and its entanglement with coercive, exploitive states that persecute their own citizens. Iran is one of those most egregious of states, a theocracy that strangles internal dissent to its restrictive domination of peoples' lives. Its determination to develop nuclear weapons, allied with its technological advances in ballistic missile delivery systems and its formation of, training and financing of terrorist groups make it a dire threat to civilized society.

 

Yet, thanks to the cohesion of Muslim groups and the lobbying efforts of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, alongside the Arab League -- a country whose minority Shiite brand of Islam with its  goal of supremacy over the majority Sunni nations neighbouring it, many of which, in the Persian Gulf, were treated to barrages of missiles and military drones in Iran's conflict with the United States -- supported Iran's candidacy for the position, against the efforts of the United States to deny it that status.

 

Key issues such as nuclear safety and security, concerning the International Atomic Energy Agency, and its spurned efforts by Iran to continue making routine checks at Iranian nuclear sites, leaving it virtually deadlocked, provided the backdrop to its general conference. On Tuesday, Tehran, with support from the very Persian Gulf neighbours which had been the recipients of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards' firing of missiles and drones, helped Iran succeed in claiming a seat on the IAEA committee.

 

Intel Brief: Iran War Solution Nowhere in Sight as U.S. and Iran Remain Entrenched  AP Photo

 

In a secret ballot, 44 countries supported Iran's nomination, as opposed to 35 voting to deny Iran that seat, while 42 nations abstained from the vote. Iran is the only non-Arab (it is Aryan) Muslim state in the Middle East, surrounded by Arab nations and one tiny Jewish nation. What they have in common excluding Israel, is Islamic religious devotion, the sectarian divide aside. Yet despite the threat that Iran poses to its neighbours, having sent thousands of missiles and drones into their territory up to a month earlier, the religious ties that bind won the day for Iran.

 

Iran, in fact, boosted by its Islamic bedfellows, has been appointed to a number of UN-body groups, one dedicated to the protection of  women's rights among them in a wildly inappropriate match. Earlier Iran had been appointed by its fellow Middle Eastern neighbours to the organizing body of the conference itself. In the meanwhile, a country that refuses entry to the very body it now sits on a board for, making the entire exercise one of bemusing sanctimony, leaves the International Atomic Energy Agency unable to fulfill its mandate.

 

The work of the IAEA has been roadblocked in the single country in the world whose secretive, illegal, and dangerous nuclear work poses a direct threat to humanity. Iran wants to possess nuclear weaponry, as a theocracy that believes in the return of the Hidden Mahdi, whose reappearance will mean the end of humanity, when only the faithful in Islam will rise to Paradise, while all others descend to a place of eternal agony as punishment for denying Islam. Their logic is to create conditions of civilizational dysfunction so severe it will hasten the reappearance of a religious symbol of total world destruction. 

 

This shows Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran, on April, 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)

 

Life-Preserving Food Aid Delivery By Drone in Isolated Nepalese Villages

"We’ve been operating back ‌and forth early in the ⁠morning. So yes, it’s quite hectic, because we ⁠need to have this thing right now."

"Nepal has this geography, this ‌terrain where drones would be really ​faster, quicker and cheaper."

Milan Pandey, Airlift ​Technology, drone operating company

 

"We have seen disasters, we have seen earthquakes, we have seen disasters caused by floods, we have seen war situations, conflicts."

"We have had access challenges in many of these situations [but the challenges in Nepal were extreme]."

"This is a very unique access challenge where, in some places, the only way to reach people is by helicopters." 

"It's a very, very expensive operation."

"When the first drone went up in the air with the food attached to it, I knew that it was a game-changer... It's an innovation in delivering food assistance."

"What we are learning in Nepal with the use of these cargo drones will change the way WFP reaches people in need."  

United Nations World Food Programme Nepal Country's Director Riaz Lodhi  

Using drones to provide aid in Nepal is a game changer.  Prabin Ranashat / AFP via Gety Images

 

 Following Nepal's devastating floods, the UN World Food Programme faced the most challenging of its responses to such devastation as was caused when a Himalayan glacier collapsed on August 26, causing a catastrophic flood at the China-Nepal border. The ensuing floodwaters destroyed roads, bridges and hydropower dams. The tentative figure of 1,446 dead and over 6,500 people missing across both countries is a testament to the severity of the situation.

 

According to Riaz Lodhi, head of the World Food Programme in Nepal, the tsunami-like flood and its aftermath produced a situation that distinguished itself as being among the "top three most challenging disasters" ever faced by his agency. Rescue teams faced arduous journeys to reach  the isolated regions where the worst impact of the flood was situated. As a result of the altered landscape, efforts to reach the afflicted saw journeys that took two hours normally, became ordeals lasting a full day.

A drone carrying relief supplies to a flood-affected area takes off in Trishuli, Nepal's Nuwakot district, on September 4, 2026. Credit: PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP via Getty Images

 

Even so, there are many communities close to the epicentre of the flooding event that remain cut off, even yet. The World Food Programme decided to deploy cargo drones in delivering food to isolated communities. In 2015 during a previous deadly earthquake, the delivery of life-sustaining materials relied on the use of mules, yaks and porters hauling food on their backs. These missions could take two to three days before those in need were reached.

 

The drones are capable of carrying between 30 and 100 kilograms, given operating conditions. "People in need, they didn't have to wait for days", stated Mr. Lodhi. "The food was reaching there immediately", making the difference between death and survival under challenging conditions. 

 

Technicians prepare a drone before it carries relief supplies to a flood-affected area in Trishuli in Nepal on 4 September 2026 (AFP/Getty)

 

 

 

 

Seceding from the United Kingdom

"[We will] look at the issues raised by the community and in the referendum, [but the] vast majority [of British people backed a government plan to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels and it was] fair [to locate holding centres around the country]."

Prime Minister Andy Burnham

 

"For people who have fled war and violence and come to the UK to be safe, being accommodated in such remote and unsettling environments only exacerbates their sense of insecurity."

"And as we’ve seen from other sites, they’ve undermined social cohesion."

Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst, Refugee Council  

Residents of Piddington, which has a population of about 350, voted overwhelmingly for secession in a non-binding referendum. Source: AAP, Press Association / Joe Giddens

 

"[Going forward, the village will identify as the] Principality of Piddington." 

"For us, it's about proportionality. How does a small village of 350-odd people assimilate with 1,250 males?"

"[The government is] trying to rush this whole plan through."

"What we're doing is a very British thing - we're voting."

"Because this is a really important topic... not just in this region, [but] across the whole of the United Kingdom. We're just ground zero."

Piddington Parish council chair Tim McNally

 

"I think what this result shows is that Piddington campaigners have done an incredible job to highlight their concerns about the proposed asylum centre."

"[The government has proposed the plan] without engaging with local people."

"[The planned centre] will be a lightning-rod to the far right, who come here to protest [and] potentially attack [asylum seekers]." 

Leader of Oxfordshire county council, Tim Bearder   

Piddington is home to about 350 people and has few amenities or facilities to speak of

 

The vast majority of the citizens of the English village of Piddington reached a consensus and announced that the vote they cast in an 'independence referendum' that was staged to protest the British government's plans to house over 1,200 migrants in a nearby facility, was rejected by the community. The referendum validated concerns of the residents that their small rustic enclave would be overwhelmed by the presence of so many individuals -- a migrant population consisting of men from North Africa and the Middle East whose numbers were such that adequate vetting did not take place -- would present an intolerable burden to the village.

 

The culture, heritage and religion of these men from Eritrea, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia, war-torn countries with unstable governments and rife with terrorist groups, so radically at odds with the bucolic British landscape and the people living there, they represent a threat of great cultural-heritage dimensions, alongside the problem of values at great variance to those of the British themselves. Located in central England, Piddington is a hop-and-a-skip from the university city of Oxford.

 

Other towns and villages in the British countryside will also be targeted by the government to receive their share of the migrant influx. For the present, it is Piddington and its rejection of the government's migrant-housing plan which will totally disrupt village life, that has garnered the attention of the British public. Declaring itself prepared to secede from Britain rather than agree to the plans to house asylum seekers in a disused military site, their symbolic vote has no legal basis, but its message is loud and clear. 

 

Local residents pose with a "Principality of Piddington" sign in the village of Piddington, Oxfordshire, England -- PA Wire

 

Of the 312 ballots counted, 285 had voted for secession. Each of the village's residents were given a ballot paper with the statement: "I support Piddington seeking to secede from the United Kingdom and pursuing self-determination". Defiance of Whitehall to this degree sends a message impossible to avoid.

British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, speaking to the press, stated that a former military base "is a better option for housing asylum seekers" than hotels or rented accommodation.

 

"We do have to house people somewhere while we get a grip on the asylum chaos ... and that base will go ahead", she stated unequivocally. Elsewhere around Britain frequent protests have been staged against the housing of asylum seekers in hotels and other facilities in various towns and villages. According to 76-year-old Herbert Owen of Piddington, it felt to him as though the government did not 'care' about his village, which persuaded him to take a stance: "I voted to leave the United Kingdom". 

 

 

Forgiving Prison Sentences Avoiding Deportation

"The prison sentence has a much greater impact on the defendant than on other offenders who might have committed similar acts."

"In the particular circumstances of this case, there is no doubt that the consequences carry considerable gravity for the circumstances of the defendant, who is a permanent resident who has custody of four children."

Quebec Appeals Court judges Suzanne Gagne, Christine Baudouin, Genevieve Marcotte 

A sign for the Quebec Court of Appeal. It’s an established Canadian legal precedent that judges are required to consider the “collateral immigration consequences” of a criminal sentence. Photo by Adobe Stock

 

"When I tell people I was bit, they ask me what kind of animal, if it was by a pit bull. They can't believe it's a person who did this to me", said the unnamed woman who had the misfortune of being attacked in December of 2022 by a Haitian woman who bit her repeatedly outside a bar in Laval Quebec. A video of the assault shows the victim's hair being pulled, Monfiston kicking the woman's motionless form on the ground, straddling her body while biting her face.

 

When onlookers attempted to put a stop to the attack, Monfiston's boyfriend prevemted their efforts. The end result was that the woman was disfigured for life, and three years later,  after Monfiston pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2025, a Court of Quebec judge sentenced her to four years in prison, a sentence that represented a fraction of the maximum 14-year sentence under the Criminal Code for a crime of this magnitude. 

 

Monfiston appealed the sentence and according to the Quebec Court of Appeal, four years represented a too-harsh punishment since Monfiston that would place her in danger of deportation. She has never sought Canadian citizenship despite having been two years of age when she arrived in Canada with her family. She had been a permanent resident of Canada for 35 years at the time she attacked the unnamed woman. According to court records she dropped out of high school at age 14, and since then her experience has been one of 'precarious employment' complicated by 'regular drug use' and criminal convictions.

 

In 2012 she was convicted of theft, and in 2014 of obstructing a peace officer. While awaiting a court date for her attack Facebook / Macdala Monfiston

In 2012 Monfiston was convicted of theft, and in 2014 of obstructing a peace officer. While awaiting a court date for her biting attack outside the Laval bar, she was convicted of drug possession in 2024. The Court of Appeal, making note of these convictions, took into account that hers were not violent offences. As a single mother of five children, of whom four children remain under her care, those circumstances lent weight to the Appeal Court's decision to award her a lighter prison sentence.

 

Anyone imprisoned for a crime in Canada for a period over two years, is considered to be guilty of 'serious criminality', losing appeal rights once a removal order has been delivered. The three judges were moved to hand down a sentence of two years less a day, shielding Monfiston from any potential loss of her immigration appeal rights. Canada established a legal precedent requiring judges to consider the "collateral immigration consequences" of a criminal sentece. 

 

Judges must weigh the fact there is risk if a criminal conviction ends up having a foreign national removed, and in recognition of that punishment environment, must reduce the punishment (sentence) accordingly for the offender. In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that lower courts fail to consider how sentences would render a vulnerable immigrant unable to appeal a removal order. As a result, a firm guideline was handed down of a sentence of two years less a day to be applied to criminal offences committed by foreigners in Canada.

 

Which effectively gives foreigners living in Canada who commit serious criminal offences a type of  forgiving mercy sentence that no ordinary white Canadian could ever hope to receive. A similar provision is also in effect for Indigenous Canadians and Canadian citizens of ethnic groups considered to be in less favoured social positions, such as Blacks and those arriving in Canada from the Middle East. A very particular 'progressive' form of justice that rewards minority criminals and victimizes their victims. 

 

Victim of Macdala Monfiston    le journal de montreal   

 

Vehicular Manslaughter? Fault 'Colonialist Past', Forgiven for Indigenous Criminals

"[Wilson was suffering from cultural] disconnection [resulting from colonization, which] crystallized into the tragic events of February 11, 2022."

"Mr. Wilson's efforts to regain his culture, that which was taken from him and his family in a systematic fashion will once again be taken by the state if the court imposes a four-year penitentiary sentence." 

"I'm left with this simple refrain: 'If not now, when. If not this case, what case?' To which I simply reply: Now, and this case."

"The over-representation of Indigenous people in Canada’s prisons is a present-day product of this country’s colonial past."

"As Indigenous incarceration rates have climbed … this over incarceration is an ongoing source of intergenerational harm to families and communities. It is a striking sign of the discrimination that Indigenous peoples experience in all parts of the criminal justice system."

Ontario Justice Gethin Edward 

A driver convicted of dangerous driving causing death has been sentenced to two years of house arrest. Sierra Beverly, 12, was killed in the 2022 collision. SUBMITTED--Brantford Examiner

 

"These have been the most difficult four-and-a-half years of our lives."

"We are deeply disappointed that, after waiting so long for justice, the sentence feels so inadequate in light of everything Naomi has endured and continues to endure."

"The family hopes that sharing their experience will help highlight the devastating and lasting consequences that serious driving offences can have on victims and their families."  

Naomi Beverly and Larry Demelo – Sierra’s mom and step-dad  

Judge Gethin Edward is known to have championed the Gladue Indigenous Persons Court, in his campaign to 'decolonize' the Canadian legal system. He is himself a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, like the criminal offender to whom he awarded a 'get-out-of-jail' card for the crime of vehicular manslaughter. The 'Gladue' provisions whereby judges in Canada must tailor criminal sentencing for Indigenous offenders through recognition of 'circumstances' related to the generational effect of colonization on First Nations, it is a cudgel whereby criminal actions perpetrated by individuals of Indigenous descent receive light sentences unreflective of the crimes they commit.

 

It is the primary reason that Indigenous women are not served justice under the Act. Their male oppressors whose violence against them are accorded light sentences for murder on the basis of their presumed no-fault status given First Nations. Campaigns highlighting the plight of Canada's 'missing and murdered' women of Indigenous backgrounds cast a wide net of blame, citing racism and discrimination, while the reality of Indigenous male violence toward their female counterparts remains an indelicate subject not to be mentioned in the same breath as 'missing and murdered'.

 

Driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck within which lay a litter of empty and partially consumed cans of beer in 2022, Darris Wilson slammed head-on into a Mitsubishi subcompact driven by Naomi Beverley, her daughter Sierra Beverly 12, a passenger. Naomi suffered debilitating brain injuries necessitating 24-hour medical care. Her 12-year-old daughter needs no life-saving medical care; she was killed on impact that Friday afternoon when her mother was driving her to a sleep-over. 

 

Forensic examination of the crash by investigators revealed that the truck driver had made no effort to brake, driving at about 90 km/hr in a 50 km/hr zone. Judge Edwards, however focused on Canada's 'colonial past' being entirely responsible for turning Darris Wilson into a drunk driver. Convicted of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm, which normally carries a maximum prison sentence of  14 years, Judge Edward in his aboriginal-activist role set that aside as totally inappropriate under the circumstances.

 

For being born to a First Nation represents a circumstance mandated for empathy -- not for the victim but for the perpetrator of the crime. While the Crown had requested a four-year prison sentence for killing a 12-year-old child, Justice Edward decided on a more 'justifiable' sentence of two years of house arrest, specifically citing the Indigenous background of the offender as requiring a sentence of that light magnitude. Justice Edward justified his decision as necessary to "erase this country's colonial past".

 

Justice Edward was made a visiting Indigenous scholar in 2024 at Wilfred Laurier University. The University school officials produced a statement declaring "we have a great deal to learn from Justice Edward's work to decolonize Canada's legal system".   

 

A two-vehicle collision on Oakland Road, southwest of Brantford on Feb. 11 claimed the life of 12-year-old Sierra Beverly (right). Her mother Naomi Beverly (pictured at left with her spouse Larry Demelo) was critically injured. Simcoe Reformer

 

"[The sentencing decision for Wilson is an] absolute moral outrage. Justice Edward is a] robed political activist cosplaying as a judge."

"We must stigmatize the vile theory that violent criminals are prima facie victims by virtue of their genetic profile."

Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney 

Reprehensible Chiding Those Mourning Death of Child

"[The victim impact statements filed in this case were of] unusual number, breadth, scope and contact."

"[Several ... statements came from] aunts, uncles and cousins of the direct victims. [Several more statements were given by] friends of the family [portions of which were disregarded by the court as they] recounted dramatized details of the hospital scene or memorialized the deceased."

"Material that is irrelevant, inflammatory, prejudicial or otherwise [outside Criminal Code bounds] should be removed or excluded before the statement is presented to the sentencing court."

"Three of the cousins of Miss Victoria Desjardins, very young children themselves, presented statements speaking in their own age-appropriate manner, about the loss of their cousin. While it is clear that they have been impacted, it was also clearly very difficult, and concerning to this Court, for them to present their victim impact statements in such a foreign and adult environment as an open court proceeding."

Justice Indra Maharaj, Calgary Court of Justice

Victoria Desjardins, 9, died in hospital after her family’s vehicle was struck by a driver who police say was fleeing officers when he ran a red light on Dec. 26, 2024. CTV News

 

 

Victim impact statements, chided Judge Indra Maharaj, must comply with the law, and the Crown prosecutor must ensure that they do. The Crown erred in this case, stated the judge, by failing to order the Desjardins extended family and friends to condense their victim impact statements into one cohesive and brief statement. The occasion of this trial in Calgary was the death by vehicular homicide of a nine-year-old child who had been in the car her mother was driving when the driver of a stolen  vehicle ran a red light at an intersection at 170 km/hr.

 

That driver, named as Duane Nepoose, happened to be under the influence of drugs, attempting to evade police in the wake of his criminal act of violently taking possession of a car from its owner. The Dodge Caravan careened through a red light, smashing into the Desardins' vehicle, seriously injuring the driver, seriously injuring her 12-year old daughter by the sheer force of the impact, and causing the death of the nine-year old, Victoria Desjardins. Another woman in a different vehicle was also injured. 

 

The seasoned repeat criminal offender, Duane Nepoose, had pleaded guilt to robbery, fleeing police, dangerous driving and causing death, along with an additional three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He was finally sentenced to ten years in prison. During the court hearing that was to address the man's sentencing, the judge's pique at the numerous victim impact statements was aired before the court, as she admonished Crown counsel.

 

The Reitmeier-Desjardins family seen in a supplied image. Mother Amanda and daughter Madison, 12, were sent to hospital after being involved in a five-vehicle collision in Calgary on Boxing Day 2024, while daughter Victoria, 9, was killed in the crash. Postmedia file

 

There are a number of guidelines in producing a victim impact statement that must routinely be made available to those committed to producing such a statement. They would be made aware of what is permissible and what is not, which the specific family member/statement writer must adhere to. If statements do contain forbidden claims such as suggesting a sentence, or making unproven allegations, or complaints related to the investigation, the presiding judge is free to make note of areas in a statement in violation of the rules.

 

In this instance -- of the death of a beloved child, sister, cousin, extended family member -- the complaint by the judge was not the content of the statements so much as it was what she considered to be the overwhelming number of impact statements presented to the court for consideration. The violent death of a child is devastating to a family on a human scale of emotional, irreplaceable loss. The court invites victim impact statements routinely, and it is beyond comprehension that a judge would take the position that too many people -- adults and children alike -- not air their bereft anguish at such a grievous loss.

 

Such disrespect and lack of understanding on the part of the judge preparing to sentence the individual responsible for that death in his cavalier disregard for the safety of the public through his pursuit of criminal activity, is breathtaking in its lack of empathy, underscored disinterest in the emotional anguish of such loss in the presented statements. It is they, collectively, who should be outraged at the judge's comments, particularly those respecting the appropriateness of children heartfully expressing the extent of their emotional trauma.  

"While I accept that these young relatives were genuinely affected, their statements largely addressed the broader family and community impact of the death. In my respectful opinion, that material could have been more appropriately and efficiently presented through a community impact statement by an adult."

"[A statement by a babysitter] was also heartfelt but tended toward a memorial [and it] could have properly formed part of a community statement by the extended family."

Justice Indra Maharaj  

Duane Nepoose, seen on bodycam footage from a Calgary police officer, admitted to dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, robbery and fleeing a police officer in the crash. CP24