After failing to express regret for injuring a woman and breaking her phone, a man was sentenced last Thursday to spend seven months in prison and to pay compensation of more than $1,500.
Randy Butler was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm and criminal damage on Sept. 13.
Though the incident left the woman hospitalised, Mr. Butler has maintained since his arrest that he acted within reason, Magistrate Ayanna Baptiste-DaBreo said.
“I believe a sentence of imprisonment is justified … based not just on the facts but on his demeanor,” Ms. Baptiste-DaBreo said.
Mr. Butler met the young woman he injured through a friend, and developed “some sort of relationship” with her, the magistrate said.“Based on what this court has seen, Mr. Butler had some expectations” about the sexual nature of their relationship, Mr. Baptiste-DaBreo explained.
When his expectations were not met, Mr. Butler turned violent, according to the magistrate.
“[Mr. Butler] seems to believe he is justified in what he did,” she added.
Ms. Baptiste-DaBreo also ruled that Mr. Butler would have to pay the woman $1,494.97 as compensation for her hospital bill, in addition to $220.99 as compensation for her broken phone.
Given Mr. Butler’s attitude, Ms. Baptiste-DaBreo initially said that the appropriate sentence for his assault charge was nine months in prison, but she lowered that punishment to seven months due to his guilty plea.
Mr. Butler did not refute Ms.Baptiste-DaBreo’s account of his crime or her characterisation of his attitude.
In addition to the compensation order, he was sentenced to four months in prison for the criminal damage charge, though this sentence will run concurrently with the sentence for assault.
However, failure on Mr. Butler’s part to compensate the woman for her hospital bill would result in an extra two months behind bars, while his failure to compensate her for her phone would add 30 days, Ms.Baptiste-DaBreo said.