Sentence shortened

Kelowna man who stabbed fellow drug trafficker wins bid for less jail time based on aboriginal background

A Kelowna man who pleaded guilty to stabbing another man has successfully appealed for a shorter jail sentence.

On June 1, 2015, Jordy Kyle Moyan stabbed a fellow drug trafficker in the lung with a knife to settle a debt.

He then watched associates kick the victim to the ground, Justice Peter Willcock wrote in his recent B.C. Court of Appeal decision.

“The victim’s wound was duct taped, he was given heroin and taken to a store by (Moyan) and his associates and instructed to steal a television but was unable to do so,” wrote Willcock. “When the victim’s perilous situation became clear to the wrongdoers, they dropped him off at the Kelowna General Hospital and left.”

On March 10, 2016, Moyan was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail.

Moyan appealed the sentence on the basis that the trial judge gave insufficient consideration to his aboriginal background.

Moyan introduced new evidence in the form of a Gladue report, which is a report used when sentencing an aboriginal offender.

“That evidence, in my view, bears upon the culpability of the offender; it sheds light on his level of moral blameworthiness,” wrote Willcock.

In the original decision, the sentencing judge referenced Moyan’s Metis heritage, but there was limited consideration to Moyan’s background in particular, wrote Willcock.

“The court was able to discern from the pre-sentence report only some of (Moyan’s) background factors that are known to figure prominently in the criminality of aboriginal offenders,” he wrote.

Since 2001, Moyan had committed between 50 and 60 criminal offences, including breaking and entering, dangerous operation of motor vehicles, possession for the purpose of trafficking drugs, uttering threats to cause death, assault and possession of weapons.

The sentencing judge noted Moyan had little hope for rehabilitation.

In this circumstance, the original sentence imposed was not appropriate, wrote Willcock.

“I am of the view that the sentencing judge erred in imposing a sentence at the high end of the appropriate range for morally culpable offenders,” he wrote. “That was unfit in this case.”

Willcock reduced the sentence to five years minus time served, for a total of three years and 313 days in jail.