Some news out of Canada... Last week, the Appeal Court of Ontario upheld a man's jail sentence in a 2007 racially motivated attack on Asian fishermen in the Toronto area: No change to sentence in pickup-truck attack on Asian angler, appeal court rules.Trevor Middleton was found guilty of two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and four counts of aggravated assault for a racist "nip-tipping" attack that left one man with permanent brain damage.
The prosecution originally pushed for a prison sentence of eight to ten years. Middleton was sentenced to just under two years. The Crown argued that the sentence did not reflect the racially motivated nature of the attack:
In December 2009, an Ontario Superior Court jury found Middleton, 23, guilty of two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and four counts of aggravated assault.The Crown's appeal of the sentence was denied. But so was Middleton's appeal of his conviction. Rot those two years in jail, you jerk. More here: Man loses appeal but keeps short jail term in 'nip-tipping' case.
Middleton's trial heard that he repeatedly rammed his Ford F-150 pickup truck into a Honda Civic driven by angler Ruohang Liu, 24, early on Sept. 16, 2007.
The court heard that the attack followed a "nip-tipping" incident in which Liu and Charles Hogan, 24, were pushed into the water at a popular Sutton-area fishing spot at Mossington Park.
As they attempted to flee the attack, Liu's car hit a tree after being rammed by Middleton's truck. As a result, one of Liu's passengers, 28-year-old Shayne Berwick, suffered permanent brain damage that left him unable to care for himself.