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Alberta Appeal Court Raises Sentence to 7½ Years in Finger-Severing Assault

The ruling warns judges to heed victim impact statements.

Law courts building in Edmonton
A courtroom at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton on Friday, June 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Alberta's top court has nearly doubled the jail time given to a man who forced a woman to eat part of her own finger, finding the sentencing judge inappropriately downplayed the "utter horror" the victim suffered.
The Alberta Court of Appeal has almost doubled the sentence handed out after a horrific assault on an Alberta woman.

Overview

  • The Alberta Court of Appeal replaced a four-year prison term with a 7½-year sentence, calling the original punishment demonstrably unfit.
  • Appeal judges said the trial court made a legal error by sentencing without the victim impact statement that had been filed but went missing.
  • The panel also faulted the judge for minimizing harm by comparing the injury to his own fingertip loss and by citing the woman's “hardscrabble” life.
  • The victim’s statement, found weeks later, described plates in her face, chronic pain, trouble chewing solid food, repeated hospital visits, and trauma from being forced to swallow her severed finger.
  • The decision signals tougher review of sentences that overlook a victim’s suffering, with clear implications for cases involving violence against Indigenous women in remote communities.