Rufus8
Active Member
Its strange to me what you take from all that.
Your first instance from 2015 describes no violent acts; its unclear to me what his probation was for; and what condition he breached (But I'll wager it was possessing the drugs on the latter). I consider that to be charge stacking.
I also don't support any criminal charges, nor do I view it as a crime (morally) to possess drugs for one's personal use.
The 2016 incident is clearly violent, and serious; you don't identify what he was charged with, which means I can't assess a fair sentence.
But serving over 1 year in prison is no small matter.
It may be entirely inadequate, but I think that would depend on a wide variety of circumstances (how seriously injured was the victim, for a start; was the fight mutual, and did the victim have a weapon etc?)
The January 2018 matter was clearly not properly handled; but while I might favour more serious action, I'm also not sure I would have favoured substantially longer prison.
I'd be interested in community service; and seizure of the car he was driving (if it was his); if it was not (but taken legally) I'd still impound it 30 days tell the owner if they loan out their keys again, they lose the car, and the right to own or lease one.
The latest charges are serious indeed and do indicate no reasonable choice but a long prison term.
That, however, should be sad.
It means we failed to get through to, and help this man turn his life around at an earlier stage.
I'd love to know if he was offered proper addiction treatment for alcoholism or drugs, at gov't expense.
I'd love to know if he was offered education/employment training while in jail.
I'd love to know if he was set up with a potential (legal) job, before leaving prison, and if proper housing was found for him before he was paroled.
If the answer is yes to the above; and the man failed to take those opportunities, its all on him.
But, if as I suspect, we offered little or none of the above............what did we expect him to do when he got out?
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Finally, on the media............you do realize he was not charged with murder, and there are more than a dozen comparable arrests most days in Toronto.
If the news is going to cover every arrest for assault or possession of a weapon, they'll be nothing else on the news.
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Also can you link this to John Toronto, or the City of Toronto as a government in any way?
Because I could swear this is about Criminal Law (Federal); Courts (Provincial); and Jail/Prison (both, but likely provincial based on his sentence)
WOW so society failed him? really? Maybe his parents/family failed him. You forget he managed to wrangle himself a nifty set of wheels and young sidekick, so he's not without ability. As for Mayor Tory, he has to deal with the realities of the legal system and this charmer has been flagged by North Bay, Sudbury and Barrie - now he's our problem. I think getting into a fight in a bar, taking a car then following the other people home to attack them with a machete suggests he has a character that leaves a lot to be desired. There is only so much you can do to legislate character but someone like this has a lot to make up for public trust.