Offender seeks ‘safe spot’ outside jail

A man described feeling scared as he spoke about wanting to turn his life around during his sentencing hearing in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday.

Sinjin Shorting, 41, received a 210-day sentence after he pleaded guilty to five offences, including an April assault on two security guards at The Town Centre mall.

Judge Patrick Sullivan accepted a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence to release him from custody based on time already served.

Shorting said he’s had months to reflect on his poor choices and plans to access support to manage his addiction upon release after he served 228 days with enhanced credit in the Brandon Correctional Centre.

He said in-custody programming “opened his eyes” to dive deeper into why he’s a repeat offender with a lengthy criminal record plagued by theft, property-related offences, assaults and a 2017 conviction for sexual assault.

“I’m holding myself back and bringing myself to jail because I get scared out there, and this is my safe spot here. I want to find a new safe spot,” Shorting said.

“I want to, you know, break the cycle of coming into this place where I’ve lost many of my years to.”

Shorting’s recent offending began in spring 2025 when he failed to register as a sex offender — something he’s required to do annually under a 20-year order, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said.

This breach was followed by Shorting punching two security officers in the face at The Town Centre on April 7 of this year as he tried to help a woman flee from being arrested for stealing someone’s purse, Mathu said.

“The security guards have a difficult job and, you know, they’re just trying to keep the peace, and it certainly doesn’t make it easier when Mr. Shorting interjects himself into a situation that he had no involvement with,” she said.

His defence lawyer said the woman was his pregnant girlfriend at the time and he believed the security guards were being too rough with her during the arrest, which upset him.

Shorting was charged with failing to attend court on April 21 and then was arrested two days later in the parking lot at the Crystal Hotel on outstanding warrants. Police searched him and found he was in possession of a wallet obtained by crime that had credit and debit cards belonging to multiple people, Mathu said.

In another incident on April 30, Brandon police were called to an apartment building on 11th Street for a report of a break-in and mischief. Using video footage, officers identified Shorting, who was shown breaking into the lobby area, damaging mailboxes and stealing sealed envelopes.

The Crown noted the accused was struggling with addictions during his offending and initially planned to suggest he serve more than 10 months in jail.

Before the court hearing began, Mathu agreed to seek a sentence of about seven months in custody as suggested by Shorting’s defence, along with one year of supervised probation.

“It does seem like a very thoughtful plan and something that I really hope that sets him on a different path for his life going forward,” she said.

“I appreciate that this is on the low end of probably what is normally acceptable, but I think, you know, Mr. Shorting … should be given some credit for finally turning his mind to maybe turning his life around.”

Defence lawyer Morgan Lawrence described how her client is taking steps to “bet on himself” by making arrangements to seek further treatment and move in with his sister, who’s caring for his sick father in Winnipeg.

“He tells me that he can recognize that perhaps it’s a barrier he presents in himself that he feels as though he’s not good enough to make it into the community, and he puts himself back into a place of negativity where he gives up,” she said.

Shorting has four children and plans to continue a career in cooking, Lawrence said.

Sullivan said while it was sad to hear Shorting has become institutionalized, he felt optimistic with the supports the accused identified for himself and that he’s wanting to change for the better.

“You said you’re scared in the community. I don’t doubt it in a lot of ways because the life you live when you’re in the community poses so many risks to you — violence, risks to your health, instability,” the judge said to the accused.

He said counsels’ joint recommendation appropriately balanced the aggravating and mitigating factors, but sentenced him to a longer period of supervised probation of 18 months with conditions, including that he not attend The Town Centre or the 11th Street apartment building.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com