Community impacted by nail-gun crime, activist says
Sentencing for Shawn Wade Hynes adjourned until March 18
PICTOU, N.S. – When New Glasgow human rights activist Angela Bowden first heard what happened to Nh Dlamini, it triggered her to throw up.
“I began to cry and I was extremely angered,” she said. “I felt a loss of safety and fear for my black sons and my nephews and my cousins and my friend’s children and the list goes on.”
Dlamini was shot in the back with a nail gun at a Pictou County worksite on Sept. 19, 2018 by his coworker, Shawn Wade Hynes. Hynes was found guilty of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon on Sept. 26, 2019.
Dlamini, who was hospitalized four days following the shooting and had to have surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung, still lives with the effects.
“He still feels it when he laughs too hard or breathes too deeply,” says his mother Stacey Dlamini.
Bowden says it’d be impossible to measure the impact of Hynes’s actions on the community because it was so far reaching.
“What must be acknowledged, however, is that the impact was deep, and wounded so many, emotionally and psychologically,” Bowden told those in the Pictou Court Feb. 26. “It stretched beyond the nail in Nh’s back and it punctured many of our hearts.”
The sentencing hearing for Hynes began Feb. 26, but has been adjourned until March 18, to allow Judge Del Atwood to read a written decision that’s expected to be released in a related case.
Crown prosecutor Bill Gorman said he believes Hynes should have to spend time in prison. He recommended a period of 12 to 15 months incarceration, followed by 15 to 18 months of probation.
Hynes’s defence lawyer, Andrew O’blenis, however, argued that given Hynes has no criminal record and based on the approximately 20 letters written in support of his character, that a period of probation would be sufficient punishment. O’blenis noted Hynes has been subjected to many threats through social media and has feared for his own safety since the charges were first laid.
Hynes offered an apology in court, saying, “Although Nh himself is not here, I’d like to say I’m sorry for anything he suffered and this situation has caused him or the black community.”
Dlamini’s family and those who have been attending the trial will be watching to see what role community impact statements play in the sentencing.
Stacey Dlamini said it appears the role of community impact statements is relatively new in Nova Scotia’s judicial system, but something she feels is important.
“I think it’s wonderful because it’s a recognition of the fact that crime does not only impact the victim and their immediate family; crime impacts the community.”
Incidents such as what happened to her son cause traumas that others have experienced, to resurface, she said.
“Cognizance of that fact is important I think for us as a province in terms of the healing that needs to take place between diverse populations in Nova Scotia.”