Two years less one day, to be precise, for the September 2007 racially motivated attack targeting Asian fishermen and shoving them into the water -- a practice that the locals refer to as "nippertipping." One of the victims in the attack is now confined to a wheelchair.
Middleton was banned from driving for 10 years and placed on probation for three years after his sentence. He must serve one year of a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew while on probation, and take anger and race sensitivity classes.
As you can imagine, the light sentence did not go over well with the victims and their families. Ruo-Hang Liu, who was shoved into the water during the attack, was disgusted with the sentence and reacted by removing a handle from the end of a bench and throwing it, shattering a large window:
Emotions erupted in the Newmarket courthouse Friday as a Sutton man was sentenced to two years less a day in jail for a racist attack on Asian anglers and one of the victims - upset at the light sentence - wound up handcuffed and arrested.Can you really blame him for being upset? Liu had told the court that he still suffers nightmares about the attack. Shayne Berwick now requires constant care. Lives have been irrevocably changed because of this stupid, senseless act of hate.
Justice Alfred Stong found that Trevor Middleton, 23, was motivated partly by racism when he and three truckloads of Georgina Township youths shoved Ruohang Liu, 24, and Charles Hogan, 24, into Lake Simcoe early in the morning of Sept. 16, 2007, in the type of attack some locals referred to as "Nip-" or "Nipper-tipping." One of their friends was left with permanent brain damage in the attack.
Loud sighs, sobs and swearing were heard in the packed courtroom after the judge read out his sentence, which also included three years' probation, a 10-year driving ban and an order for Middleton to take cultural sensitivity training.
"There is no justice in Canada," an Asian-Canadian man shouted in the hallway of the courthouse.
Liu was handcuffed and taken into custody by York Region police after the armrest of a courthouse chair was thrown into a hallway window, shattering it. Police did not immediately comment on whether he had been charged.
Two years! Prosecutors had sought a sentence of eight to ten, but I guess a slap on the wrist is all Middleton gets. You're damn right, it's a soft sentence. I really hope that "cultural sensitivity training" does him some good. More here: Anger over light sentence for racist attack.