Saskatoon StarPhoenix

MACPHERSON

- LES MacPHERSON

SP columnist examines the seven deadly sins as they apply to recent court cases.

You probably have heard of the seven deadly sins. It figures that all seven are well represente­d in the courts. Here are some examples:

Anger

From a trial decision earlier this year in Nova Scotia provincial court. The accused was convicted of manslaught­er for killing her father, who died of head injuries after she pushed him downstairs:

“She was not defending herself when she pushed Mr. Burgess, she was reacting out of anger and frustratio­n. She had “had enough of his mouth” and pushed him.”

Greed

This one from Ontario Superior Court, where a 50- year- old woman was convicted this spring of assaulting eight women by practicing amateur plastic surgery. Without training or credential­s, often in hotel rooms, the accused injected silicon into the victims’ buttocks for cosmetic purposes. Several of the victims, who paid thousands of dollars for the procedure, suffered life-threatenin­g complicati­ons and permanent disfigurem­ent. The perpetrato­r, sentenced to eight years in prison, did not even begin to know what she was doing:

“The offences appear to have been motivated by greed.”

Sloth

From a ruling by Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench on a lawsuit over crop insurance that has dragged on for eight years:

“... the subject litigation has lumbered forward with all the alacrity of a lobotomize­d sloth.”

Pride

Oddly enough, pride usually comes up in court, not as a sin, but as a virtue, when people take pride in their work, for instance. Among the rare exceptions was an Ontario Court of Justice decision last year on the sentencing of former Conservati­ve campaign worker Michael Sona. He was convicted for using robocalls to send opposing voters to the wrong polls:

“The facts found indicate as well that, following the election, Mr. Sona openly and with some misplaced pride boasted of his involvemen­t and participat­ion in this very disturbing conduct.”

Envy

This from a hearing earlier this year by the Canadian immigratio­n and refugee board. Seeking refugee status were a woman and her two children from Madagascar:

“The appellants also allege that their Merina ethnicity is the envy of other ethnic groups and that it is because of their Merina ethnicity, and their higher caste status within their ethnic group, that is at the root of the evil spells that have been cast on them.”

Here’s a bonus example of envy, this one from Ontario Superior Court in a civil suit over a boat sale. The defendant had put off an earlier appearance due to a medical emergency and now was seeking an adjournmen­t due to another medical emergency. The court was dubious:

“The man who wins the lottery once is envied. The man who wins it twice is investigat­ed.”

Lust

Again from Ontario Superior Court, this time in the case of a man accused of sexual assault. The accused claimed the victim had lusted after him. The court had doubts:

“The complainan­t is considerab­ly younger than (the accused), who is 69 and looks every day of it. It is highly unlikely that the complainan­t would find the accused an object of sexual desire, perhaps in his dreams as the saying goes.”

Gluttony

From a decision by the B.C. Supreme Court in the case of a rancher suing the provincial government over damage done to his property by protected elk drawn to the area by a feeding station:

“... To satisfy their newly acquired taste for alfalfa, they lost their natural reserve and developed overbearin­g, aggressive and gluttonous characteri­stics, allegedly breaking down the rancher’s fences in their insistence to feed on his alfalfa, and trampling and fouling that fodder which they did not consume, disregardi­ng any attempt to chase them from the premises by use of dogs or other threats.”

The court found the elk were responsibl­e and the province was not.

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