Court upholds life sentence for Eaton Centre shooter Christopher Husbands
![Christopher Husbands Christopher Husbands appears in court in Toronto on Monday, June 4, 2012 in this artist's sketch. (Tammy Hoy/The Canadian Press)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2017/6/9/christopher-husbands-1-3451170-1709147241379.jpg)
A court has upheld the life sentence for Christopher Husbands, who shot and killed two people and wounded several others at the Eaton Centre in 2012.
In the decision released Wednesday, Ontario’s top court tossed out Husbands’ appeal, dismissing his lawyers’ request to set aside the life sentences he received in 2019 and instead, impose a fixed term of 15 years’ imprisonment.
“There is no basis for interfering with the life sentences imposed on the appellant,” Associate Chief Justice Michal Fairburn wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel.
“The trial judge imposed the life sentences after carefully assessing all mitigating and aggravating circumstances and taking all relevant evidence into account.”
Husbands was initially sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for 30 years after he was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder in 2014.
But after successfully appealing the conviction, Husbands was awarded another trial in 2019.
While he admitted to the shooting inside the busy downtown shopping centre on June 2, 2012, during his second trial, his lawyers argued that his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was triggered by an encounter he had with men who had assaulted him months earlier.
A jury later found Husbands guilty of two counts of manslaughter and he was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility set at the statutory minimum of seven years.
The shooting claimed the lives of 24-year-old Ahmed Hassan and 22-year-old Nixon Nirmalendran, and left a 13-year-old boy seriously injured after he sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
In the appeal of his sentence, Husbands’ lawyers made a number of arguments, including that the trial judge applied the “wrong test” for determining whether Husbands PTSD was linked to his criminal conduct. The lawyers added that the judge imposed a “demonstrably unfit sentence.”
But Fairburn dismissed these arguments, noting that the trial judge “arrived at sentences that he considered appropriate within the limits established by law.”
“There is no error in principle. There is no failure to consider a relevant factor. There is no erroneous consideration of aggravating or mitigating circumstances. The sentence is not demonstrably unfit,” she continued.
Fairburn added that while maximum sentences are “rare,” they are “not out of reach in circumstances where the principle of proportionality is respected.”
“Certainly, it was within reach here. The facts have already been reviewed. This case was about as close as a manslaughter will come to a murder. The victim impact is profound: 2 young men are dead and a 13-year-old and his family have had their lives altered forever,” she wrote.
“That is not even to mention the other victims of the shooting crime, or the over 700 people that experienced the fear and panic that came with it.”
The decision noted that while the defence originally appealed the manslaughter convictions and the Crown initially appealed the acquittals on second-degree murder, both sides ultimately abandoned those appeals.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6944718.1719585556!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
The U.S. Supreme Court weakens federal regulators, overturning decades-old Chevron decision
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upended a 40-year-old decision that made it easier for the federal government to regulate the environment, public health, workplace safety and consumer protections, delivering a far-reaching and potentially lucrative victory to business interests.
Ontario MPP removed from PC caucus over 'serious lapses in judgment'
Premier Doug Ford has removed a member of his caucus due to what he’s describing as 'serious lapses in judgment.' In a statement released Friday morning, the premier’s office said MPP Goldie Ghamari had been removed from the Progressive Conservative caucus 'effective immediately.'
Biden's Democratic allies admit he had a poor debate but say they're still standing behind him
U.S. President Joe Biden strained to quell Democratic anxieties over his unsteady showing in his debate with former U.S. president Donald Trump, as elected members of his party closed ranks around him in an effort to shut down talks of replacing him atop the ticket.
Russia to prepare a 'response' to U.S. drones over Black Sea
Russia's defence minister ordered officials to prepare a 'response' to U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea, the ministry said Friday, in an apparent warning that Moscow may take forceful action to ward off the American reconnaissance aircraft.
Is homemade sunscreen safe to use? Here's why it's 'a horrible idea,' according to experts
If you could make sunscreen with items found in your kitchen pantry, should you do it? Posts from social media influencers and bloggers including recipes to make your own sunscreen have been wildly circulated online, but the dermatologists who spoke to CTVNews.ca call it a 'horrible idea.'
Here is where, how and when to watch the 2024 NHL Entry Draft
The 2024 NHL Entry Draft starts at 7 p.m. EST on Friday night and runs for two days from Sphere in Las Vegas.
'Hanging on for her life': Sask. family desperate to bring home sick niece from Philippines
For half a decade, a Saskatoon family has been trying to bring their orphaned niece to Canada, they say now it’s a matter of life or death.
Fines related to neighbour's 443 noise complaints at centre of B.C. dispute
A B.C. condo owner who was fined tens of thousands of dollars over hundreds of noise complaints made by his downstairs neighbour was partially successful in having the penalties overturned.
Navy facility in Canadian Arctic 'could be finished this season,' a decade overdue
Nearly a decade behind schedule, the Canadian military’s long-promised naval refuelling station in the High Arctic could open as early as this summer, albeit with restrictions on the facility's operations and serious questions about its long-term viability.