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Barbara Kentner has been failed again, says family after
murderer gets day parole in trailer-hitch death
First Nation victim's family says they weren't told man convicted
in her Thunder Bay death was up for parole
Sarah Law · CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2023 1:00 AM PDT |
A collage of photos of Barbara Kentner, who was 34 when she died months after being struck by a trailer hitch in Thunder Bay, Ont. (Jody Porter/CBC)
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details of violence against Indigenous women.
Melissa Kentner is angry.
The man convicted of manslaughter in the death of her sister, Barbara Kentner, has been released from prison on day parole after serving two years of an eight-year sentence.
"I was crying that day when I found out," Melissa said in an interview with CBC News. "I was having a [really] bad panic attack, like I thought I was going to have a heart attack."
Barbara, of Wabigoon Lake First Nation, died on July 4, 2017, in Thunder Bay, Ont., from medical complications, months after she was struck by a trailer hitch. She was 34 — a mother, a sister, a cousin and an aunt. Her death made national news in a country facing a crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people.
Brayden Bushby, now 24, was sentenced in June 2021 to eight years in prison for Barbara's death. Due to time already served, that was reduced to seven years and 11 months.
So, it seems he spent only one month in prison before being convicted.
...Brayden Bushby was sentenced to an eight-year sentence for manslaughter after throwing a trailer hitch at Kentner's sister Barbara from a passing car.
This Aug. 10, Bushby was granted day parole, but was denied full parole, according to documents from the Parole Board of Canada.
He has been ordered:
Not to consume, purchase or possess alcohol.
Not to enter establishments where the primary source of income is derived from the sale or consumption of alcohol.
To have no direct or indirect contact with the victim's immediate family.
To follow the treatment plan/program arranged by his parole supervisor in the areas of substance abuse and emotions.
Before his day parole release, Bushby tried to appeal his sentence. Court of Appeal documents obtained by CBC News show his lawyers argued for either his manslaughter conviction to be withdrawn and replaced with a charge of aggravated assault, or for the court to order a retrial on the manslaughter charge.
However, the parole board documents indicate Bushby is no longer pursuing the appeal.
Melissa said nobody told her about Bushby's parole release and she learned about it through the neighbour of one of Bushby's relatives.
The Canadian government is proposing a bill to make bail for repeat violent offenders more difficult. Good for them! But I have been waiting for 8 years for this government to legislate something, anything, that will benefit children who are being sexually abused. From what I can see, this bill doesn't address this issue at all except possibly in very extreme cases. Trudeau has avoided the subject for his entire time in office.
B.C. attorney general hails federal bail bill restricting release
of violent offenders as it goes to Senate
Passing of C-48 in Commons a step toward safer communities, Niki Sharma says
Chad Pawson · CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2023 11:45 AM PDT |
Niki Sharma pictured being sworn in as B.C. attorney general on Dec. 7, 2022. (Mike McArthur/CBC News)
British Columbia's attorney general says the passing of a bill that places a "reverse onus" on offenders to be released on bail is "one step closer" to meaningful reform intended to increase community safety.
Bill C-48 passed its third reading in the House of Commons on Monday, the day parliamentarians returned for the fall session, and will now go for review to the Senate.
Provinces including B.C., as well as law enforcement and advocates have been pressuring Ottawa over bail reform for more than a year, following crimes where suspects or those charged had a history of violence but were out on bail.
"Today we moved one step closer to ensuring safer communities across Canada, including here in B.C.," said Attorney General Niki Sharma in a statement from her office.
Bill C-48 would amend the Criminal Code so that those charged with a serious violent offence involving a weapon — one with a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment — who were convicted of a similar offence within the last five years will face a reverse onus to get bail.
So, if they were sentenced to 10 years or more in jail for the first crime, they couldn't possibly qualify as being convicted of a similar offence in the last 5 years.
How many people would this bill have affected if it had been applied 5 years ago?
This means the accused has to show why they should be released instead of the prosecution having to prove that they should remain behind bars.
The law expands the use of reverse onus for firearm and intimate partner violence offences, and allows courts to take into consideration community safety and an accused's history of violence when making a bail decision.
Does that mean that they don't normally consider community safety in their decisions? I've always suspected that as it seemed apparent.
Under the law, a person accused of a crime is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. Granting them bail means they can remain out of jail while their case moves through the justice system — a process that can take many months.
As with the story above, Bushby appears to have spent only one month in cells before his conviction. This law wouldn't change that because he had no previous conviction/sentence of 10 years or more.
Under the Criminal Code, a person has the right to a bail hearing within 24 hours of their arrest if a judge or justice of the peace is available, or as soon as possible once someone become available.
If they are denied bail, they will remain in custody. The financial cost of keeping an accused person in jail is far greater than the cost of supervising them in the community while they await trial.
In changing bail reforms, federal regulators said they also had to balance keeping offenders in custody against previous legislative changes that tried to be sensitive to Indigenous or Black people, who are over-represented in the criminal justice system.
Is it possible that they are over-represented in the criminal system?
Not complete fix, critics say
But critics say Bill C-48 doesn't go far enough.
South Surrey MLA Elenore Sturko, B.C. United critic for mental health and addictions, said it doesn't deal with smaller violations such as petty crimes like theft or street disorder.
Notice how "mental health and addictions" seem to always be paired together? There is no doubt that the extreme wave of mental health problems is related to two societal problems - drug use and child sexual abuse. Governments, both provincial and federal don't seem to be very interested in either topic.
"These will not touch those bail hearings because they don't fit within the new categories," said Sturko, who is a former Mountie.
Sturko also said while it waits on federal bail reform Premier David Eby's B.C. government could have been doing more to address "complex and overlapping mental-health and addictions crises," which are often the root causes of crime.
Angela Marie MacDougall, director of Battered Women's Support Services, said bail reform shouldn't be the first step in addressing intimate partner violence.
"The vast majority of victims do not report to the police, they report to friends and family … to anti-violence organizations, and that's actually where the investment needs to be," she said.
B.C. government to open dedicated enforcement hubs targeting repeat violent offenders
Sharma said in her statement that she would continue to advocate for further changes, but did not define what those would be.
"The premier and I, along with the solicitor general and colleagues from across Canada, continue to push for federal action on bail reform," her statement said.
In the spring, the province said it would create hubs made up of police, dedicated prosecutors and probation officers to target repeat violent offenders across the province.
The 12 hubs are part of the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative, which the province says focuses on targeted enforcement and enhanced investigation and monitoring.
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