Labrador man’s sentence reduced

Darren Andersen was convicted of aggravated assault

A Labrador man convicted of aggravated assault for stabbing his partner with a knife was successful in having his sentence reduced last week, with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal ruling the trial judge had not taken the man’s aboriginal background and personal circumstances into account.

“I am satisfied that the trial judge’s failure to consider Mr. Andersen’s aboriginal status was an error that had an impact on the sentence for aggravated assault, and that the sentence must be varied,” wrote Justice Gale Welsh on Friday.

Welsh quoted a Supreme Court of Canada case to explain that aboriginal people experience injustices within the criminal justice system, and many are alienated from the system since it doesn’t always reflect their needs.

Darren Andersen, 32, had been convicted of aggravated assault and breaching court orders in May of last year, and was sentenced to four years and two months in prison. In addition to his sentence, Andersen had also appealed his conviction, saying the trial judge had misapprehended the facts of the case and had made findings of fact without evidence, and had not given sufficient reasons for the conviction. The Court of Appeal dismissed that appeal.

Andersen and his partner had broken up the day he assaulted her. The woman testified she had come home late at night to an empty house, and Andersen later came in, became upset and started hitting her in the head. She went upstairs, bringing a steak knife from the kitchen with her because she thought he would come upstairs and beat her again.

Andersen went upstairs, where the woman was lying on a mattress in a dark room, and hit her in the head again, causing bruising. The woman said she had tried to hit him with the knife, and when he wouldn’t stop beating her, used the knife to “poke” him a couple times before he took it from her. She said she then felt a sharp pain in her back and began bleeding. Andersen took her to a neighbour’s house and they called paramedics.

In his appeal, Andersen said the judge had not addressed uncertainties in the woman’s testimony, particularly when it came to whether he had taken the knife from her or whether she had dropped it, and the position of her body when she was stabbed. He said the stabbing had been an accident, and the original judge hadn’t explained why he had rejected that possibility.

The Court of Appeal rejected those arguments and ruled there was evidence to establish an aggravated assault, and that the original judge had given sufficient reasons for rejecting the possibilities of an accident or self-defence.

The court reduced Andersen’s sentence to two years less a day, followed by three years of probation.

Of the three judges on the appeal panel, Justice Derek Green disagreed, saying he would reduce Andersen’s charge from aggravated assault to assault causing bodily harm and sentence him to 18 months in prison. Green based his decision on what he said was a lack of evidence that Andersen had taken the knife from his partner and used it either recklessly or intentionally to stab her.