Fouth person pleads guilty in connection with assault
Guilty plea entered to assault causing bodily harm stemming from 2019 incident involving teen
One year to the day after her arrest, a Yarmouth woman has entered a guilty plea to a charge of assault causing bodily harm stemming from a January 2019 attack against a Yarmouth teenager.
A trial had been scheduled in Yarmouth Provincial Court on Tuesday, Jan. 7 for Danesha Russell. She faced counts of aggravated assault; assault with a weapon; unlawful confinement; conspiracy to commit an indictable offence; and uttering threats to cause bodily harm.
Her lawyer, Oliver Janson, informed the court that the trial would not be proceeding and instead, a guilty plea to one charge would be entered. Following a discussion and agreement with the Crown, the defence highlighted the charge of aggravated assault and instead a plea of guilty the lesser, included offence of assault causing bodily harm was put forward.
Judge James Burrill accepted the guilty plea and ordered a presentence report as requested by the defence. A sentencing date of March 12 was set. At that time, the court will speak to the other charges.
The assault of the Yarmouth teenager – who was 17 years old at the time – occurred over the course of several hours on Jan. 4, 2019, after she was picked up in a vehicle and driven to several locations where she was beaten, tortured and confined. She was eventually able to escape and seek help. At the hospital her family members said she was barely recognizable due to her injuries. Five people were charged.
Russell, 19 at the time of her arrest, was not in court when her lawyer entered the guilty plea. Her lawyer said she is residing at Holly House in Dartmouth, where services are provided through the Elizabeth Fry Society. Because a co-accused that Russell is not to have any contact with, Trey Rhyno, is also residing at that location, the defence asked the court to amend Russell’s court-ordered no-contact clause to allow for any incidental contact that may occur.
Three people have already been sentenced in this case. Trey Rhyno received a sentence of time served after pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm and unlawful confinement. The time served was based on the amount of time spent in custody between Rhyno’s January 2019 arrest and September 2019 sentencing.
Ashley Comeau, driver of the vehicle, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy and was given an 18-month communitybased conditional sentence. Jacqueline Elizabeth Angell, Rhyno’s grandmother, received a 12-month conditional sentence after pleading guilty to assault with a weapon. The sentences of Comeau and Angell were a joint recommendation by the Crown and defence. In Rhyno’s case the Crown had been seeking a jail sentence of 18 months but Judge Claudine MacDonald ruled it wouldn’t be fair to sentence Rhyno to a much harsher sentence than what two other co-accused had already received.
The family of the teenager who
Beach strategy was assaulted, and the victim herself, have all said they've felt let down by the justice system. The fifth individual charged in connection with the assault is a youth who has a court appearance coming up later in January.