CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A Lennox Island man who kicked his victim in the face while he was on the ground in a parkade was sentenced Tuesday to nine months in jail.
Jason Aaron Sark, 39, appeared before Judge John Douglas in provincial court in Charlottetown on Jan. 28 for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to one count of robbery.
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown attorney Emily Campbell told the court the victim was intoxicated when he went into a parkade with Sark and his co-accused, Jesse Douglas Paquet.
Inside the parkade, Paquet hit the victim and knocked him to the ground where Sark kicked him in the face several times before punching him.
The victim later reported to police his wallet and phone were stolen during the incident.
Campbell told the court the victim had a split lip that needed stitches and he had loose teeth that required more than $1,300 in dental work after the assault.
The court heard the incident was caught on surveillance video, which Douglas said he viewed during Paquet’s trial on the matter.
Douglas found Paquet guilty after that trial and sentenced him to one year in jail.
Campbell said a Gladue report, which is a type of specialized pre-sentence report for Aboriginal offenders, showed drinking and drugs were a significant part of Sark’s life.
In her submissions on a sentence, Campbell argued Sark should receive a higher sentence than Paquet and she said the two offenders were quite different.
That included Sark’s history of violent offences and she referred to his criminal record that had convictions for attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.
During defence submissions this week, lawyer Conor Mullin said Sark’s sentence should be lower than Paquet’s given factors laid out in the Gladue report.
The report gave details of a tumultuous upbringing, including Sark starting to abuse substances when he was 11.
Before hearing his sentence, Sark addressed the court and said he hoped he could put the incident behind him.
“I’m sorry for this,” he said.
In sentencing Sark, Douglas said the extent of the violence involved in the robbery and the number of violent crimes the accused committed in the past were aggravating factors.
Douglas also said the law is clear that custody is a last resort for Aboriginal offenders.
With the sentence, Douglas gave Sark a credit of seven months for time spent in custody since his arrest, leaving him two months still to serve.
Douglas said the sentence would give Sark a chance to get a release plan in place that would include looking at going to an off-Island healing lodge.
Sark will be on probation for 18 months after his release, during which time he is banned from contact with Paquet or the victim.
He will be subject to electronic monitoring if directed.
Sark must also pay $450 in restitution for his half of the cost of the stolen phone.
Victim services paid the cost of the dental work.
Sark will be subject to a 10-year weapons prohibition and must provide a DNA sample for the national databank.
