Man receives house arrest for jail beating

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This article was published 21/02/2022 (1664 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who took part in a beating at the Brandon Correctional Centre was sentenced to 10 months of house arrest Thursday afternoon.

Drayden Lofti, 20, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the April 19, 2020 beating at Brandon’s jail.

According to a summary of the incident in a presentence report, police were dispatched to a report a 20-year-old inmate at the jail had been beaten with a chair and had serious bleeding as a result.

Officers went to the hospital and spoke to the victim, who said he didn’t want anyone to be charged as a result, the report reads. Police didn’t see any “aggravating injuries” on him at the time.

The officers reviewed security camera video of the incident, which started with the victim leaving a cell and hitting the call button in the jail sub unit. Another inmate came up behind him and hit him with a chair before kicking, punching and kneeing him in the body and head.

Two more men then joined in the beating with punches and kicks, according to the presentence report. The three had the victim cornered, but kept hitting him.

One of the men then grabbed a chair and hit the victim in the head and shoulders with it. They then picked the victim off the floor and punched him in the face multiple times.

Lofti then joined in and started punching the man in the head and body, according to the presentence report.

Crown attorney Andrew Sieklicki suggested an eight-month jail sentence for Lofti, noting the beating lasted several minutes and sent the victim to the hospital.

Lofti’s co-accused also received similar sentences, Sieklicki said.

Defence lawyer Chad Sutherland said Lofti accepts responsibility for his role, but he was put in a difficult position in the jail when violence broke out.

He also has Gladue factors and had a difficult childhood, including witnessing violence in his home and family members in gangs. Sutherland said Lofti is not associating with gang members and has stable supports in his life now.

A jail sentence would only send Lofti back to the place where the incident happened, Sutherland said. Instead, he suggested a conditional sentence order, which would have Lofti serving a jail sentence in the community.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said the beating is more serious because it happened in jail and involved multiple people. Despite this, she said she recognizes his upbringing, which was filled with “chaos” and “exposure to criminal activity.”

Hewitt-Michta sentenced him to a 10-month conditional sentence order, which she said amounts to house arrest.

“I want it to be long enough that it gets your attention and everyone else’s as well,” she said to Lofti.

Hewitt-Michta also put him on a curfew and warned if he was caught breaching he could spend the rest of the time in a real jail cell.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_