Sentence reduction for courthouse assault

In the recent case of R v Kerridge-Lall, a defendant’s sentence for robbery with a firearm was reduced by six months as remedy for a courthouse guard's use of force against the defendant against cells during a preliminary inquiry.

Around 8:00 am before court, the defendant got into a fight with another defendant in a cell. The guards pepper-sprayed and separated them. They gained physical control over Mr. Kerridge-Lall and brought him to another cell. He was at this point compliant. Before placing him in the cell, one guard kneed him in the face -- as Justice Stribopoulos put it, a "parting shot" to "punish him for his misconduct in the courthouse cells". Justice Stribopoulos found that this strike was entirely gratuitous and worthy of an independent six-month reduction from the four-year mandatory minimum penalty for robbery with a firearm. In the result, Mr. Kerridge-Lall received a net sentence of "time served".

All that is interesting and helpful in its own right. This is a significant sentence reduction for a very serious offence. But further worth noting is that Justice Stribopoulos relied on defence counsel's contemporaneous observations of the injury to "reinforce" his conclusion that Mr. Kerridge-Lall was credible. Relying on Dunnett--a case I previously summarized here--Justice Stribopoulos accepted defence counsel's representation in submissions that he observed noticeable redness on his client's face after the alleged assault: see para 74.

Great work on defence counsel Alonzo Abbey's part. He had the courage both to bring this application after a guilty plea and also to put his own reputation on the line to tell the truth about the aftermath of the abuse he saw on his own client's face.