Reference no: EM133302003
You are a trial judge in the Ontario Court of Justice. Tom had a trial before you on a charge of uttering a threat to cause death and assault of his spouse, Jane. The Crown proceeded by summary conviction. During the trial you heard evidence that during a very heated argument over Tom's drinking and his mistreatment of Jane and their two children, Tom threatened to kill Jane as he pushed her to the ground. Jane is 4 indigenous. Tom was drunk at the time. The threat to kill Jane also involved a racial slur directed at Jane and Jane's family. Tom testified and denied the offence, but you did not believe him. You accepted Jane's account of what happened. You convicted Tom on both offences. The matter was put over for sentencing.
Tom and Jane have been together for 15 years. They have been married for 10 years. Since Tom's arrest 10 months ago, he has not been living with Jane or the children. However, Tom has continued to provide financially for the family and is seeing the children pursuant to a family court order. There is no history of physical abuse but Jane reports in her victim impact statement that she was emotionally abused by Tom for years. She has no intention of getting back together with Tom. You ordered a pre-sentence report. The probation officer interviewed a number of Tom's family and associates. They describe him as hard working but also someone who was described as demanding and could be a bully. If things do not go his way, he gets very annoyed.
Tom continued to deny that he was guilty of anything and made it clear to the probation officer that he did not accept the verdict, had every intention to appeal the decision and expected to be successful on appeal. Tom did admit to a history of alcohol dependency. He was drunk at the time of the assault, which involved pushing Jane down to the ground. Until now, Tom has never sought to get any help for his dependency although he has agreed to go into a 30 day in-treatment program for addiction, but this has not yet started. Tom works as a pharmacist. He had to disclose the fact of the conviction to the Ontario College of Pharmacists and is facing a disciplinary proceeding over the same. He also owns part of a pharmacy and sits on a board of directors for a public corporation. The fact of a criminal conviction will affect his ability to continue to sit on the board.
The Crown and defence have both made sentencing submissions to you. The Crown has requested a suspended sentence. The defence sought an absolute discharge with no probation and no conditions.
With reference to the relevant statutory considerations found in the Criminal Code, provide your reasons for sentencing Tom and what the ultimate sentence is going to be.