Rapper’s shooters sentenced to life, 16 years
Musician who performs as Robin Banks paralyzed in Vaughan attack in 2017
It’s “miraculous” Liban Randall even surviv ed being sho t multiple times while on the patio of Vaughan’s Cameo Lounge.
Randall, who performs as rapper Robin Banks , suffered wounds to his back, neck, chest, shoulder, wrist, groin, thigh and buttocks, with at least one bullet grazing his skull.
Despite this, he didn’t give up and is now a paraplegic, rapping from his wheelchair. The men who sho t him ha ve been jailed for their crimes.
Nicholas Rhoden, 29, was given a life sentence and his associate, Rushawn Anderson, 22, 16 years for attempted murder.
The Randall shooting came at the end of a violent summer month in 20 17 in V aughan, which witnessed three murders in quick succession, ending with the shooting at Cameo Lounge.
It occurred the night of April 3, 2017, when Rhoden and Anderson pulled up to the parking lot and waited in a darkened vehicle for about 50 minutes.
After Randall appeared on the patio, Rhoden and Anderson fired at close rang e, knocking him to the ground, according to Justice J ohn M cCarthy’s reasons. At leas t one bulle t hit an innocent bys tander, McCarthy added.
“The injuries to Liban Randall proved to be catastrophic,” McCarthy wro te. “It’ s miraculous that he surviv ed the ordeal. Nonetheless, he has been left in a pitiable and highly dis abled state.”
Soon after the shooting, Rhoden and Anderson were stopped by T oronto police. Eventually, the pair was arrested by York Regional Police for the shooting.
The Cro wn argued for a life sentence in both cases, suggesting the moral blameworthiness was as high in this case, almost as if they had committed murder.
“This was a targeted, planned and orches trated ev ent, a callous, vile, cold-blooded attempt to kill Liban Randall, ” the Crown e xplained to the court, McCarthy wro te. “The contempt for life and the utter disregard for public s afety e xhibited by these two defendants was deplorable.”
The Crown further urged McCarthy to jail the two men in response to “no torious escalation” in gun violence in the Greater Toronto Area in recent years.
“Those who op t to practice gun violence must be left with no doub t that the sentences which await offenders will consistently be the harshes t that the la w permits ,” M cCarthy wrote about the Cro wn’s submissions to the court.
The defence argued that Anderson had a good chance at rehabilitation considering he did not have a criminal record prior to the incident and maintains familial and community support.
The defence for Rhoden — who has previously been convicted of armed robbery, pointing a f irearm, possession of a firearm, attempted theft and assault — suggested the escalation in gun violence in the G TA is “folk wisdom,” insisting there is no reliable empirical evidence for the court to be guided by.
It further requested the court consider ho w “history and colonialism had translated into socio-economic ills and higher levels of incarceration for African-Canadians” in relation to Rhoden’s case.
During his sentencing reasons, McCarthy spok e briefly about the crime and just how horrific it was.
“It’s difficult to imagine a more brutal or cold-blooded ass ault on the integrity of a human being,” he wrote. “That these two gunmen would se t upon an unsuspecting and defenceless individual on the terrace of a suburban nightclub and riddle his body with bullets, leaving him bleeding, senseless and as near to dead as one can imagine is not something that any civilized society should have to tolerate.”
He added that among the few mitigating factors was that Anderson was 19 at the time of the shooting, he has support of his family and upgraded educational courses during his time in jail.
As for the idea there might be a link be tween Rhoden’ s background, his life experience, circumstances and the commission of this crime — McCarthy said without further evidence to back this up, he was unable to give the factors weight in sentencing.
McCarthy s aid that Rhoden showed no remorse and that there wasn’t even the suggestion by his defence team that he would benef it from rehabilitation. As for Anderson, despite the lo wer sentence, M cCarthy said there could be an argument that given Anderson’s “seemingly benign upbringing,” his moral blameworthiness is higher.
“Nevertheless, the case la w makes it clear that the youthfulness of the offender, the support he enjoys … and the potential for rehabilitation … are deserving of considerable weight in sentencing,” he wrote.
Rhoden and Anderson were both handed a concurrent sentence of 10 years for the aggravated ass ault on an innocent victim standing near Randall at the time of the shooting.
There was no word on a third victim mentioned by police following the attack in McCarthy’s sentencing on Oct. 25, 2019.
Randall did not reply requests for comment through his management company.