Some solace for shooting victim

For almost three years, Travis Bailey has lived with open hate for the teenager who fired a shotgun blast into the back of his head. Yesterday, he watched Thomas Riordan, 20, walk out of court in shackles to begin a 6 1/2-year prison term for attempting to murder him.

Only one hour earlier, Bailey watched as the same man who nearly killed him was sentenced to life in prison without chance for parole for 14 years for murdering a young Waterdown man later that year. Under Canadian law, both sentences run at the same time.

"I'm glad it's done. I can finally sleep easy," Bailey said. "Now I know justice has been served."

Three years ago, on May 7, 2006, Bailey was a hardworking father who'd separated from his partner. By 10 p.m., after a long day nailing shingles, Bailey had kicked off his boots and was partying with his roommates and girlfriend. He heard about a scuffle at his apartment earlier that day when someone showed up looking to collect a drug debt from a tenant and had been run off by another tenant brandishing a pool cue. When he heard someone down below on the back stairway knocking loudly, he stepped out of his apartment door and looked down and saw an angry Riordan standing there demanding to know where the guy was. Bailey told him he didn't know who the guy was.

Riordan in a paranoid rage started swearing, delusional that Bailey was hiding the guy. Riordan started to walk away, then, spun on his heel, pulled out a shotgun, cocked it and fired.

Then the life sentence for Bailey started. The blast left him blind in his right eye and paralyzed on his left side. His appearance is that of an elderly stroke survivor, 23 surgeries, endless rehabilitation has left him battling long bouts of depression, severe memory loss and seizures.

The acquired brain injury has left him with seizures, and sudden falls are a constant worry, even with his walker. But what hit him hardest was losing precious years with his young children during their most formidable years. Instead of birthday cake and trips to see Santa, Bailey's family had to endure trips to various care homes and rehabilitation centres.

Thomas Riordan

It's sad that second-degree and attempted murder only gets you 14 years in this country but that's the gift the Canadian justice system gave Thomas Riordan yesterday. The Hamilton man, now 20, was handed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 14 years for the second-degree murder of Michael Walsh, 22. His life sentence runs from the day he was arrested.

The victim, who worked as a general labourer for a local cement company, had gotten himself mixed up in a drug deal gone bad. The father of one child was beaten, stabbed and shot to death after four men kicked down the door to his room over the tavern shortly after midnight on Oct. 11, 2006.

Shane Riordan, 21, who stood watch while his brother and two other assailants inflicted deadly retribution, was sentenced to seven years in a penitentiary for manslaughter. He will have three years, two months left on his sentence after getting double credit for pretrial custody.

Court heard the slaying was instigated by a local drug dealer who had a beef with Walsh. Earlier on the night of the homicide, the drug dealer and four others, including the Riordan brothers and a 16-year-old getaway driver, met at a Park Street South residence.

Thomas Riordan took the rifle, the butt of which he sawed off to make it easier to conceal. Shane Riordan took a large knife, which allegedly was ultimately was used by another of the assailants. A youth, who cannot be identified, took a heavy candlestick. The group allegedly smoked pot and drank whisky to steel themselves for the assault on Walsh at the Waterdown tavern.

The Riordan brothers are a couple of remorseless cowards who should have gotten the full 25 years for second degree and 10 years for manslaughter. Two families are forever changed by a couple of drug addicts and a flawed justice system.

Later,
Kenaz

The hammer falls in Hamilton on three murder trials

In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.-Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

Hamiltonian's know too well the sage of this quote. Recent justice has been neither swift nor hard. Sometimes justice felt like it was administered with a whiffle bat instead of the iron "Hammer" that forged the chains and shackles to which freedom was grounded for many birds of prey in the past. Leaving the preyed upon feeling the sting of a misfired blow from a blind justice system.

This weekend four men finally felt the sting of justice as the gavel fell in three highly publicized Hamilton cases.

Rogers sentenced to life in jail

Corey Rogers -- the dangerous fugitive who tried to turn himself in a week before going on a stabbing rampage -- has been found guilty of murdering two teens and wounding two others.

The jury found Rogers, 24, guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Paul Haggerty, 19. Second-degree murder for the death of Lucas Deane, 18. Attempted murder for the stabbing of Kenny Clark. And aggravated assault for the knifing of Lee-Anthony Newell.

The first-degree murder conviction draws an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Justice Ramsay also handed down 12 years for the second-degree murder, as well as six years for the attempted murder and one year for the aggravated assault.

Paul Haggerty's father, says his faith in the police and the justice system was shattered in the wake of Rogers' botched surrender.

"Today, our faith has been restored a little bit."

I couldn't agree more.
origional post about the botched arrest from 5/9/07 entitled "Chief Brian Mullan Lies Again"
full story and victim impact statements

Aziga guilty verdict makes history

A Hamilton jury made legal history Saturday when it convicted an HIV-positive man on two counts of first-degree murder for deliberately infecting two Toronto women who died of AIDS-related lymphomas.

The nine men and three women jurors deliberated approximately 25 hours over three days before returning with a verdict at 5 p.m. The jury also found Johnson Aziga, 52, guilty on 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault and one of attempted aggravated sexual assault.

The daughter of S.B., who was present in court for the verdict, said she was grateful to the jury for finding that her mother’s death was a murder and not just an unfortunate public health incident .

“I thought that any person who would have common sense and who would have that evidence in front of them would find the same way that I felt — that he was guilty. How could you not connect that (sex) act with the sequence of events that led to her death.”

Aziga returns to court May 7 for sentencing and at that time, the prosecutor and Crown council intend to file victim impacts statements from family members of the dead women, along with the surviving complainants. Five of Aziga’s former sex partners are HIV positive and four have tested negative.

full story

This man inflicting these women with a slow, painful deadly disease did far worse than if he had used a gun and ended their life swiftly. Aziga deserves not only 25 years without parole, but declaring him a dangerous offender would give him possibly the rest of his natural life to find the remorse for his victims that he seemingly lacks.

Brothers admit to killing

A Hamilton man has pleaded guilty to two brutal crimes committed five months apart that ignited the city's outrage in 2006.

Thomas Riordan, 19, yesterday admitted in court he murdered Michael Walsh, 22, when he burst into a tiny room in the American House Tavern in Waterdown in October 2006 and fired two rifle bullets into Walsh as he lay helpless on his bed.

Riordan also pleaded guilty to trying to kill Travis Bailey, 22, in early May that year by pumping a shotgun blast into Bailey's face, blowing out his teeth, shattering his jaw and leaving him brain damaged, paralyzed on his left side and blind in one eye.

Standing next to his younger brother in the prisoner's box, Shane Riordan, 21, pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter for guarding the kicked-in door while his brother shot the young father of one. Walsh was also stabbed in the stomach and clubbed in the head with a heavy candlestick by two other people.

Walsh's sister,

"Our society looks to police and the courts for some kind of justice, but no matter what we feel, it will never be enough."

full story

Later,
Kenaz

Young offenders should be treated like adults

The Conservative government plans to introduce a bill as early as next month to treat young offenders more harshly, including an expected provision to make it automatic that violent and repeat offenders over age 13 receive adult sentences.

This is one promise contained in the Conservative election platform, which promises "to hold young lawbreakers accountable to their victims and the community." That they can ill afford to break. It is time for jail sentences for youths to reflect the growing severity of the crimes.

One change would be to make it automatic for youths aged 14 and over who are repeat or violent offenders to receive heavier adult sentences, a provision that would remove the discretionary powers of a judge to decide on a case-by-case basis. As it stands, it is presumed that serious crimes will merit adult punishment, but it is not mandatory. This discretion was glaringly problematic in the Matthew Daly case, one that lead to one of his killers to walk free after timed served.

The government's plan as expected will run into legal trouble, there is already a challenge, slated to be heard in the Supreme Court of Canada next fall, to the current, lenient law. The case involves a 17-year-old youth who beat another teen at a Hamilton, Ont., shopping mall. The victim eventually died from his injuries.

The Ontario Court of Appeal decided last year that youths in trouble with the law should be treated as children not adults. A three-judge panel in Ontario declared that presuming youths will be punished as adults violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that it should be up to prosecutors to present a convincing case on why youths should be punished as adults, rather than the other way around.

The government also plans to add a provision to the act instructing judges to take "deterrence and denunciation" into account when sentencing youths. The principle, which already exists in the Criminal Code for adults, means imposing longer sentences to send a message to the public.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act came into force almost four years ago replacing the Young Offenders Act which was a joke. This act saw a huge amount of kids walk in the front door of our jails and be turned free even before the paperwork was signed. Or not be charged with crimes such as break and enter or third degree assault because the cops knew they couldn't get a conviction because of a justice system caught in the past when kids actually feared punishment. Now it's all they know, and "wear" it like a badge of honour.

Rehabilitation rather than punishment, only works if the convicted is truly ready to repent for his crimes and wants to return to society. For the other 60% (police say that the new focus has caused a 40% decrease in the number of youths serving time in jail) the proposed bill will see them lose their rights the same way they took from their victim.

Of course the Liberals plan to halt the bill at all costs, they fell that,

"Harsh treatment doesn't work," said Liberal justice minister, Marlene Jennings, who added that she expected that the Conservative proposals would violate the Charter of Rights guarantee that punishment must be proportionate to the crime.

She said she is particularly "horrified" at the prospect of eliminating the discretion of judges to pass sentences as they see fit, on a case-by-case basis.

Inconsistency amongst judges is why the justice is broke and needs to be fixed. I agree with this bill and even some new considerations that have been leaked.

The government is considering going even further for 16- and 17-year-olds. A leaked memo that proposes to give the Crown discretion to use the adult justice system, not just sentencing, for youths aged 16 and 17 who are charged with murder, attempted murder, manslaughter or aggravated sexual assault. The difference is that in the youth justice system, their names are protected from publication and they do not carry a criminal record into adulthood.

Hopefully this bill of hope doesn't see the shredder like many other bills that have attempted to remedy of sick justice system.

Later,
Kenaz