Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 14/01) - Two male youths who used beer bottles to "viciously and brutally" beat a cab driver in the head were sentenced Monday to a year each in secure custody.
Moments after the Dec.18 attack the cabbie, who was "blinded by blood", drove himself to the hospital where he received 25 stitches to four different places on his head and face and was given a saline drip to compensate for blood loss. He later lost three teeth, experienced extensive bruising, suffered from headaches and nightmares and took a financial loss of $5,000.
"Justice has been served," said J.C., the manager of City Cab Ltd., where the driver works.
"Those kinds of things should not be happening -- they make us very leery of who we should be serving."
Parents, cousins, grandparents, siblings and teenage friends packed the territorial courtroom to hear the fate of the pair, who were both 17 at the time of the incident. Many wept openly when Judge Michel Bourassa handed down the sentence.
"This was a brutal, pointless attack on a vulnerable person at a sight chosen by the accused," said Bourassa.
"This crime demands secure custody, maybe it will give them time to reflect on the sorry state they now find themselves in."
Court heard that the two boys called a taxi at 2:50 a.m. to take them home from a house party. Both had beer bottles with them because they wanted to "finish their drinks."
They admitted they had plans to "dump the cab" (leave without paying). Alcohol was a factor in the beating.
A third, unknowing youth was also in the taxi and was dropped off before the beating.
The two boys -- one sat behind the driver and the other sat in the front seat -- then directed the cab to a driveway in the Kam Lake industrial area. The ride came to $10.05, but the cabbie said $10 would be fine. The boy in the back seat got out and stood at the driver's window. The second boy stayed in the passenger seat.
Crown prosector Loretta Colton said the driver, expecting to be paid, rolled down his window and was immediately struck by a beer bottle. The second youth, still in the car, began beating him with his beer bottle from the passenger seat.
While screaming into his radio for help, the boys continued to beat the driver before "suddenly stopping" and fleeing. Fearing his attackers would return, the cabbie "sped" away. Defence lawyer Andrew Fox said one of the accused characterized the attack as "insane on his part" while the other said "counselling would be pointless" for him.
Fox also said the boy who swung first thought perhaps his friend was in trouble because he didn't get out of the car. The boy in the car said he swung out thinking something had happened to his friend to initiate the beating. The two are expected to serve their time in Fort Smith.
They also face six months probation upon their release and as violent offenders will have DNA samples taken from them.
Trafficking "spare tires
A year after a then-23-year-old Yellowknife man was caught trafficking less than two ounces of marijuana, he was sentenced to two months in jail.
After pleading guilty in territorial court on Monday, court heard Robert Sunderland was set up twice by an RCMP undercover agent -- independent of Operation Guiness -- once on Feb. 27, 2000 and again on March 18, 2000.
The agent, who spoke to the accused using code phrases like "can I buy another spare tire?" bought one ounce of marijuana for $300 and three quarters of an ounce also for $300.
Defence for the man told the court the accused was selling drugs to pay off truck and rent debts and since his arrest in November 2000 has "grown up."
"The mere fact that he has been charged has had a profound effect upon him," said Robert Gorin. Judge Michel Bourassa, however, said the man saw selling drugs as an easy way to fast money. "Everyone has debts, but they don't go running to drug deals. Clearly the motivation was the money that could be made," he said before sentencing.
"I have no doubt he made a cost\benefit analysis when he got involved -- the greater the money (earned), the greater the consequences. Today he is facing the downside."
