Montreal man jailed and banned from Niagara

A Montreal man will spend the next 90 days behind bars for his role in a robbery which began with a call to an escort and ended with an assault against a professional gambler.

On April 2, 2017, Niagara police were called to the hotel at Fallsview Casino Resort after a guest claimed he had been attacked by three males after seeking the services of a female escort

In an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Friday, Gabriel Osorio-Interiano, 21, pleaded guilty to a charge of break and enter and commit robbery. Crown attorney Michal Sokolski told court the victim had contacted an escort and made an arrangement with the woman for sexual services in exchange for money.

After their encounter, court heard, the woman made a phone call and, soon after, three men forced their way into the man’s room. The victim was struck in the head and his iPhone and watch were stolen.

The group was subsequently tracked down at a nearby hotel.

Defence counsel V.J. Singh told Judge Fergus O’Donnell his client “didn’t come to Niagara with any bad intentions” and suggested the incident was a “totally inappropriate response” by the complainant.

In addition to the jail sentence, Osorio-Interiano was banned from entering the Niagara region for the next two years.

“Whatever happened in that hotel room shouldn’t have happened,” the judge said.

Court heard the victim “supports himself by gambling around the world” and is not a resident of Canada. By pleading guilty to the offence, the Crown said, it saved the victim from having to return to Canada to testify.