Sentencing delayed for aboriginal man over part in housebreak, assault
By Peggy Revell on July 14, 2017.
prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell
A judge told defence counsel to go back to the drawing board for the sentencing of a young man who pled guilty over his part in a housebreak and assault.
Riley Bellhumer was supposed to be sentenced Thursday at the Medicine Hat Courthouse for his involvement in an Aug. 9, 2015 incident where he, three other men and a youth broke into a local residence, assaulted a 33-year-old man with blunt objects, then fled the scene.
Bellhumer is “extremely remorseful” said defence counsel Stewart Kennedy during Thursday’s sentencing, which included a reading in of the facts. Bellhumer has support from his family, and an employer who say that his actions were “out of character for him.”
Bellhumer — who was 19 years old at the time of the incident — entered guilty pleas to housebreak while disguised, and assault causing bodily harm, back in June 2016. Sentencing was delayed for over a year so a presentencing and Gladue report could be written.
While out on bail, Bellhumer voluntarily went back into custody to ensure that these reports were completed.
A presentencing report collects information on an offender’s background to help make a suitable sentencing decision. A Gladue report is similar to a PSR, but is specifically for people of aboriginal background and looks at factors like residential schools, discrimination, abuse, child welfare removal, or substance abuse.
In Bellhumer’s case, the reports spoke about how he lived in an abusive household for his early life, then was raised in a low-income, impoverished single-parent household. He attended 14 schools through his life, and family members had attended residential schools.
The reports noted that Bellhumer began abusing alcohol as a young teen, and this turned into substance abuse. At the time of the offence, he was using meth and cocaine.
Judge Gordan Krinke put the brakes on Bellhumer’s sentencing, noting that a Gladue report is meant to be used by courts as a way to address the disproportionate number of aboriginal people within Canada’s prison system.
Krinke pointed to statistics that 25 per cent of male prisoners in Canada are aboriginal, 36 of women prisoners are aboriginal —and in places like Edmonton, this figure reaches as much as 50 per cent.
Aboriginal people make up only four per cent of Canada’s population.
A Gladue report isn’t a reason to just reduce an overall sentence, said Krinke, but a means for the courts to come up with ways to address these statistics, while still sanctioning the offender.
The sentencing hearing will continue on Aug. 31, with Krinke telling defence to look at the Gladue report again and come up with different sentencing options.
