Husbands jailed for at least 30 years,
Judge calls food court killings in 2012 ‘outrageous and horrific’
Before Christopher Husbands was led out of the courtroom Thursday to start his 30-year-to-life sentence, he looked over at his younger sister Neola, who testified during the trial and wrote a letter of support to the court.
“I love you,” she said through tears. Then Husbands turned to look at the youngest brother of one of his victims — with a tight smile on the killer’s face.
For gunning down two men in a crowded Eaton Centre food court — his reckless burst of bullets also striking a 13-year-old boy in the head — Husbands was sentenced to life in prison with 30 years before he could apply for parole.
The “outrageous and horrific” shooting shocked the city, said Superior Court Justice Eugene Ewaschuk in sentencing Husbands to serve two consecutive 15year periods of parole ineligibility under a recent law that applies in cases with multiple murders.
Previously, the maximum parole ineligibility period for a life sentence was 25 years. It is the first time the law has been used in Ontario and is the highest period of parole ineligibility imposed in the province so far.
The law was also subject to a constitutional challenge from Husbands’ lawyers, who argued consecutive periods of parole ineligibility would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Earlier on Thursday, Ewaschuk found no breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because judges still have the discretion to craft fair and just sentences under the law.
Last December, a jury convicted Husbands, 25, of two counts of second-degree murder, five counts of aggravated assault, one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of recklessly discharging a firearm. Chilling surveillance video from June 2, 2012, shows Husbands shooting and killing Ahmed Hassan, 24, and Nixon Nirmalendran, 22, whose youngest brother was present for sentencing.
In his decision, Ewaschuk noted that in addition to his criminal record and admissions of drug dealing and “holding” firearms for others, Husbands had “an utter contempt for court orders.”
At the time of the Eaton Centre shooting, Husbands was out on bail for a sexual assault charge and under house arrest.
At trial, Husbands’ lawyer Dirk Derstine argued Husbands was not criminally responsible for the shooting because he had been in a trauma-induced robotic state.
Husbands had been stabbed multiple times by a group of men months before the Eaton Centre shooting, which he claimed left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
During the sentencing hearing, his lawyer Stephanie DiGiuseppe argued that this “caused him to act significantly out of character” on the day of the shooting.
Testifying in his own defence, Husbands claims to have no memory of the shooting, but told the jury he feared for his life when one of the men he says attacked him threatened him. (No threats were seen on the surveillance video.) Crown prosecutor Mary Humphrey told the court Husbands was motivated by revenge and wanted to “get even” with the men who hurt him.
He is a “menace to society,” she said, arguing a 40-year period before Husbands could apply for parole would be an appropriate sentence.
The defence sought a parole ineligibility period of 15 years.
“We are not talking about a release date,” DiGiuseppe said.
“We are talking about a time when he becomes eligible for certain liberties vigorously scrutinized by the National Parole Board.”
Outside court, Derstine told reporters that he had instructions to appeal.
For the father of Connor Stevenson, the now-16-year-old boy who miraculously survived being shot in the head, the lengthy consecutive sentence sends a strong signal to deter gun violence.
“Connor will never be able to get his original piece of skull back. (Connor’s sister Taylor) will never be able to erase the memory of what happened that day,” Craig Stevenson said outside the courthouse.
“If we are being given that life sentence, then he should be given that same life sentence.”
Before Ewaschuk gave his ruling, Husbands offered an apology to everyone who suffered and continues to suffer because of his actions.
“I know what it is like to be physically and psychologically injured,” he said. “I apologize for my actions on the darkest day of my life . . . not one day goes by that I don’t think about the impact of my actions and think about how to make amends.”
Two of those most affected, his sister and Craig Stevenson, shared a brief hug outside the courtroom after Husbands was led away in handcuffs.