Protesters urge harsher penalties
Participants of courthouse gathering call for stronger justice in violent crimes
The Canadian justice system is too lenient on perpetrators of violent crime, say family members of people who died at the hands of others in Windsor.
In a demonstration in front of the Ontario Court of Justice in Windsor on Friday, protesters called for harsher treatment and punishment of those who commit fatal beatings, shootings, stabbings, drunk driving and other dire offences.
“The lenience that these criminals are getting, the sentences that they're getting, it's just really a slap in the face to the victims and their loved ones,” said Danielle Dubeck, who organized the protest.
The father of Dubeck's children, 38-year-old Thomas (T.J.) Mcintyre, died from severe injuries suffered in an altercation on Seminole Street on Sept. 23.
Ryan Taylor, 31, has been charged with second-degree murder in the case. He was granted bail about a week after his arrest.
Taylor was scheduled for a court proceeding on Friday that he was not required to attend.
“To watch people being let out into our community with such quick timing, after such heinous crimes, it shows there needs to be change to our judicial system,” Dubeck said.
Among the protesters, Mcintyre's nine-year-old son Coleton and teenage daughter Trinity wore T-shirts printed with their father's face, and carried signs demanding “Justice for my Dad.”
“We're the ones serving a life sentence,” Dubeck said. “We don't have options. We don't get bail from our pain or anything like that.”
Dubeck said the demonstration wasn't just about Mcintyre, but about the many Windsor victims of violent crime.
At the same time as the protest, pretrial motions were heard on Jitesh Bhogal, who is accused in the killing of Autumn Taggart in June 2018.
“Windsor police are doing their job. It's the justice system that is failing us,” Dubeck said.
“You see the same names in the newspaper, over and over again. They keep getting bail, they keep reoffending.”
Dubeck said she understands the need for due process, and that court proceedings are complex matters.
But she still believes the courts are more geared toward protecting those who commit crimes rather than representing the victims.
Dubeck said she's working on a petition to send to Ottawa requesting reform of sentencing guidelines.