Man convicted in unprovoked hammer attack on Winnipeg teen argues for lower sentence
A man convicted of an unprovoked hammer attack on a teenager who was getting pizza told court he should be given a lower sentence because he is not a killer.
Jerry Kipling, 31, was found guilty earlier this year in the 2020 attack that left the 15-year-old boy with the hammer's claw lodged in his skull.
The Crown, calling the attack vicious and cowardly, has asked Kipling be sentenced to 12 years in prison. The defence is asking for eight years.
Kipling did not express remorse when he was given a chance to speak during Wednesday's sentencing hearing. Instead, he argued the sentences being proposed are far too long and suggested he be given no more than two years, plus two years of probation.
"Twelve years is kind of a long time," Kipling said in court. "This isn't a murder case, for one. There's guys that aren't even getting that long for murder cases."
Provincial court Judge Murray Thompson reserved his decision until the summer.
Court heard the teen was ordering pizza slices in a shop in May 2020 and had a brief conversation with a man in a blue shirt. An agreed statement of facts said an employee saw the teen and the man getting along as the man showed the boy items in his backpack.
But when the teen left the restaurant, it said, the man followed him and hit him in the head with the hammer claw.
Court heard that Kipling didn't help the boy. He grabbed the hammer's handle, which had broken off, and left.
"(The teenager) walked into that Pizzarama a healthy young man with his entire future ahead of him," said Crown prosecutor Ari Milo.
"He left with life-altering injuries."
Court heard the boy spent weeks in hospital and requires more surgeries. He has lost function of his right arm and has a stutter. He must wear a helmet to protect his brain where the skull was damaged and removed.
The teen's victim impact statement, read into court, said he thought it was just going to be a regular day.
"As soon as I turned my back on him, he lunged at me with a hammer," the boy's statement said. "I was just laying there fighting for my life."
A statement from the teen's aunt said he will never have a normal life. She said her nephew is lonely, depressed and the whole family is fearful due to the violent attack.
"Jerry Kipling stole my nephew's teen years," the aunt said.
Crown lawyers argued that Kipling's sentence must be long because he has a history of unexplainable brutal attacks.
He has four previous convictions for violence, including slashing his own aunt and cousin with a knife in 2015.
"The vicious and cowardly assault on (the teenage boy) was not an aberration," Milo told court. "This is who Jerry Kipling is: a violent unrepentant offender at the highest level of dangerousness."
Defence lawyer Mike Cook said his client had a difficult upbringing and suffers from the intergenerational impacts of residential schools. Cook said Kipling grew up in abject poverty and didn't have structure or stability in his life.
He began drinking and using drugs at a young age. Court heard Kipling was doing methamphetamine at the time of the attack.
Cook said Kipling has expressed remorse in conversations with him.
"I would never lose hope that Mr. Kipling can rehabilitate himself."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.