Time served for role in BCC assault

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This article was published 27/06/2023 (1174 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After being handed a sentence of time served for his role in a three-on-one jailhouse assault last year, a man says he has plans to mentor youth once he is released from jail.

Eric Sinclair, who was originally charged with aggravated assault, pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of assault causing bodily harm in Brandon court on Monday after he helped beat up another inmate at Brandon Correctional Centre last September. Sinclair’s lawyer, Ethan Pollock, told the court his client says he hopes to use his own story to help youth avoid getting involved in the criminal justice system like he has.

On Sept. 12, 2022 at Brandon Correctional Centre, an inmate was attacked by three other inmates. The attack was apparently a result of a bet and began with a verbal attack. Then the physical attack ensued, and the victim was punched from behind and forced to the ground. Then all three inmates began punching the victim all over his body and kicking him in the head. Correctional officers intervened and told the rest of the inmates to lock up.

When police went to the jail to take a statement from the victim, his face was bruised and bloodied, and his eyes were swollen shut. Prosecutors noted that the victim required multiple stitches. Police also noticed that Sinclair’s knuckles were red from repeatedly punching the victim with his fists.

Both the Crown and defence agreed on the time served sentence (Sinclair has spent about seven months in jail). While prosecutors noted that the sentence was low for this type of offence, it was a result of a major issue in the Crown’s case. The victim of the assault had been released from jail, and prosecutors could not locate the man.

However, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said that the fact that Sinclair assaulted someone while he was in jail pending on an assault charge made the offence more serious for prosecutors.

Sinclair also has a lengthy criminal record, Mathu said, noting that there were 48 convictions on his record, many of which involved violence.

“If [Sinclair] continues down this path of violent acting out every time he doesn’t get what he wants, and especially when he’s already in custody pending on an assault, the only place that he’s going to end up is back in jail,” Mathu told the court.

Pollock, Sinclair’s defence lawyer, told the court that his 41-year-old client is an intelligent and thoughtful person who has plans to make it his life’s mission to speak to young people about avoiding the gang lifestyle and living a life in and out of jail.

The defence lawyer said that Sinclair had a hard life and grew up in an environment without parental figures and experienced a lot of trauma.

Pollock said that his client wants to be a positive role model to kids so they don’t end up in jail like he did.

“I think that’s unbelievably admirable for Mr. Sinclair and he has such a bright future and he can be such an important person in his community if he sticks to that,” Pollock said.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta endorsed the recommended sentence and reminded Sinclair that the sentence he was receiving is not one that someone with his criminal record would normally receive. She said that he was given a lot of credit for his guilty plea, especially since it would have been difficult for the Crown to prove its case against him.

“I’m glad you’re thinking about way that you might use your story to help others avoid getting into the kind of trouble that you’ve been in,” the judge said. “I hope you recognize that when you step out of custody this time, you’re at a crossroad and you have a big decision to make in terms of which direction you’re going to take your life in.”

Sinclair was also sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation as well as a lifetime weapons prohibition.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com