The victim’s family and friends yelled at two young men as they were led out of a courtroom in downtown Toronto on Wednesday after a judge sentenced them to single-digit prison sentences for the stabbing death of a 17-year-old Scarbrough high school student.
Last month, Emmett Carew, 21, and Cheddi Itwaroo, 22, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, reduced from first-degree murder, to killing Sir Wilfrid Laurier CI student Brendon Bowler on May 6, 2019.
That day, Itwaroo got involved in a fight with Bowler and his friend over a bag of marijuana taken from Carew the previous day. Carew came to the fight armed with a machete and knife due to a physical altercation a day earlier over the pot, Judge Maureen Forestell said on Wednesday as she read her reasons for sentencing.
Itwaroo took the machete and swung while Carew had the knife, “believe Bowler had a knife in his hand, but he did not,” the judge said. There was a physical battle and Carew stabbed Bowler in the chest once. The wound was fatal.
“It appears from the (victim impact) statements that were submitted that Brendon had an impact on many people in his short life. “His family, friends and community suffered a great loss when he was killed,” said Forestell.
As his mother, Renee Ritchie, said, Brendon’s death was life imprisonment for those who loved him, especially his family, the judge said. She added: “he was in every way a person who would have made his community a better place, who would have contributed in a positive way and that contribution and promise was lost.”
Both accused were then 19 with no criminal records and expressed remorse towards the families.
Forestell said she accepts the joint submission on the length of sentence and says it is appropriate for this type of offense and offender.
Carew received a nine-year sentence, before credit for attendance, leaving him to serve seven years and nine months. The judge sentenced Itwaroo to eight years, minus credit, with six years and three months left to serve.
During his submissions, Michael Lacey, who represents Carew, said he understood how difficult it is for the victim’s family and friends “to accept that when someone else’s life is lost, the appropriate penalty is six to nine years. But it is the series of appropriate punishments that involve non-intentional culpable homicide involving juvenile offenders without previous criminal records. “
Reference-www.thestar.com