Man jailed 9 years for killing girlfriend
Admitted strangling her during 2017 altercation in Richmond Hill home
Warning: This article contains graphic content some readers may find disturbing.
A 29-year-old Richmond Hill man has been sentenced to nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to strangling his girlfriend in December 2017.
Clifford Campsall had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Shelby Goldhar, 28, a developmentally challenged woman he’d been dating for years.
Campsall had been convicted just four months earlier of assaulting Goldhar, and was still on probation for that attack when he strangled her, according to a sentencing document released this month.
On Dec. 19, 2017, Campsall and Goldhar were drinking and doing cocaine at their apartment with friend Nikita Pouzanov.
The pair then went to consume more cocaine at Pouzanov’s basement flat on Richmond Hill’s Cartier Crescent, near Crosby and Bayview Avenues, which he shared with his girlfriend Felicia Land.
At some point, Campsall sent a text message to a friend in which he said Goldhar was behaving like “typical Shelby” when she was high, “pestering and annoying” those around her, including him, the sentencing document said.
In the early hours of Dec. 20, the pair became embroiled in an argument that led to an altercation, which the two had been involved in the past. In those cases, the document stated each had “acted aggressively” toward one another.
But this time was different. Campsall used the cord of a hair straightener to strangle Goldhar. She would die as a result.
Still intoxicated, he “panicked,” according to Justice Michelle Fuerst’s reasons released Aug. 5, and found a serrated knife in an attempt to dismember her body.
Campsall, Land and Pouzanov then left the apartment, leaving the body there and heading their separate ways on transit.
Campsall went to the police to report her death. Police said that before he was arrested, bruising was visible around Campsall’s eye.
Goldhar, whose mother once described her as having the mental capacity of a nine-yearold, was discovered nude with injuries and bruising on her body, and her arm almost completely sawed off.
Fuerst took into consideration the victim-impact statement of Goldhar’s father, Howard Goldhar, who said as a result of the killing he’d been “rendered a completely dysfunctional person,” who lacks self-esteem and is unable to care about others.
Fuerst also took into consideration that Campsall was a crack-cocaine addict, legally blind, can only read and write at a basic level and never advanced past Grade 9.
“Campsall expressed to me that he accepts responsibility for Goldhar’s death and is truly sorry,” Fuerst said. “He apologized to her family. He wants to get professional help for his mental health issues, and to stay off drugs and alcohol.”
Fuerst also listed some of the aggravating factors, including the fact that Campsall had been on probation as a result of the assault conviction at the time of the killing.
“Ms. Goldhar suffered from cognitive delays,” Fuerst said. “She was childlike in her maturity and behaviour.”
She rejected Campsall lawyer
Ryan Handlarski’s request for two years worth of credit for the 188 full lockdown days Campsall experienced because of COVID-19. Campsall was granted 12 months credit for that, as Crown attorney Erin Thomas suggested. Campsall was also credited with 48 months for time served.
Land had her indignity to a human body charges withdrawn and was discharged. Pouzanov pleaded guilty to accessory to the offence and received a 12-month suspended sentence and two years probation.