Posted on 03/19/2005 2:25:07 AM PST by freepatriot32
A B.C. court has subtracted one day from the two-year jail term of a convicted rapist so that he can stay in Canada and fight deportation to his native Sri Lanka.
The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that Sritharan Kanthasamy, 28, a permanent resident of Canada, would face "unintended consequences of great significance" if it upheld a two-year jail sentence imposed by a lower court following a trial in 2004. The Appeal Court agreed to reduce the sentence to two years less one day.
The ruling makes Kanthasamy eligible to appeal on humanitarian or compassionate grounds a declaration under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act declaring him an inadmissible permanent resident and potentially forcing him out of Canada, the country he has called home since 1995. The declaration is automatic for permanent residents following a conviction on charges that amount to "serious criminality" under the Immigration Act.
"The day made the difference between being able to appeal deportation or not," said Crown counsel Jennifer Duncan, who had argued against the one-day reduction.
"I was concerned that this would not be a precedent that everybody gets two years less a day if they have immigration problems, but that's not what the judgment was."
Kanthasamy was convicted Aug. 18, 2004, on charges of sexual assault and unlawful confinement. According to written reasons for judgment by the appeal court, Kanthasamy was among four men who kidnapped and raped a young sex-trade worker from Abbotsford in August of 2002.
The judgment states the woman had been kidnapped earlier by Kanthasamy's three co-accused, taken to a gravel pit and sexually assaulted. She was then taken to Kanthasamy's home and locked "naked and terrified" in a bedroom, where Kanthasamy again raped her.
With pre-trial time taken into consideration, Kanthasamy was effectively given a two-year jail term. He was released on Oct. 17, 2004, and then placed in immigration detention pending a deportation hearing.
But in an appeal heard March 3 in Vancouver, Kanthasamy's lawyer, Rod Holloway, argued his client might be killed if he was sent back to Sri Lanka.
According to Holloway, Kanthasamy is a Tamil from the Jaffna region of north Sri Lanka, where a group of insurgents known as the Tamil Tigers is waging a campaign for independence against the ruling Sinhalese government.
In an affidavit, Kanthasamy said the Tamil Tigers extorted money from his family and murdered his brother when the family refused to support the insurgents.
The family sought refuge in Canada in 1995.
Before the rape case, Kanthasamy was twice convicted of criminal offences.
His record includes mischief over $5,000 and failure to comply with bail in 1995, and a mischief charge in 2003.
unbelievable canadian liberals make american liberals like positivly reaganesqe by comparision
Canada : Get rid of him to make room for someone more deserving.
LOL
Guess the ancient land of Ceylon greets this with little humor.
Like who? B.C. obviously likes it's foriegn crimminals. They have airline bombers from India walking free, why not rapists from Sri Lanka?
The family sought refuge in Canada in 1995.
His record includes mischief over $5,000 and failure to comply with bail in 1995...
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