A Brantford judge sharply dismissed the idea of sentencing three brothers to house arrest for a violent vigilante attack at a Dunnville park in 2022.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Last month, Justice Colette Good said, despite many factors that weighed in favor of a community sentence, the vicious beating given to one underage adversary in particular could have ended with the brothers in prison.
Article content
“The attacks were calloused and cowardly,” said Good in Brantford court.
“A video of the beating was shocking .. brutal and relentless, and could have resulted in (the victim’s) death.”
The Dunnville brothers – Tyler Caissie, now 26, Lawrence Caissie, 24, and Brandon Caissie, 21 – each pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the Aug. 12, 2020 park fight where they were responding to several teenagers who beat up the youngest Caissie and stole his beer.
Carrying a baseball bat, hammer and a broken stick, the brothers and a fourth friend made it known they were armed and looking for a fight.
Advertisement 3
Article content
Their three 16-year-old adversaries then got golf clubs and they all met at Central Park in Dunnville.
One teen was threatened into dropping his golf club and then struck across the face several times and another was punched and kicked.
The third victim endured the worst violence, being kicked, punched and then beaten with the baseball bat, ending, said Good, with Tyler Caissie taking a “Babe Ruth-level swing” that could have killed the teen.
That victim was vomiting and rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed with two skull fractures, two brain bleeds and a broken elbow.
The young man spent a week in hospital and has been left with scars on his head, ongoing pain and headaches.
On the one hand, said Good in her decision, the Caissie brothers had traumatic childhoods and a family history of mental instability and learning disabilities.
Advertisement 4
Article content
None of them had criminal records and their guilty pleas saved both court resources and a re-traumatizing of their victims in court.
Since the fight, the brothers have been on strict house arrest away from each other and have been working to stabilize their lives with counseling and medication.
“The public interests are generally served by sentences that lead to a law-abiding, prosocial individual who gives back to the community,” said Good in favor of the idea of a community sentence.
“(But) even as youthful first offenders with difficult life circumstances and emotional and developmental challenges, you would have known relentlessly beating (the victim) about his face and head with hands, feet and a baseball bat you were committing a serious crime.”
Advertisement 5
Article content
Other factors weighing against the Caissies were that they attacked teenagers, not adults; they planned the fight and took weapons; and when the one victim was outnumbered, defenseless and on the ground trying to protect his head, they moved to pull his arms away and deliberately targeted his skull with their blows.
The judge gave little weight to the Caissies’ claim of Indigenous status as they had no proof and offered no evidence of how that effected their lives.
Good said house arrest for the brothers would undermine the gravity of their offenses, erode public confidence in the justice system and lead to more vigilante behavior.
She also noted that the three defense lawyers representing the Caissie brothers and the assistant Crown attorney reported “an ongoing level of acrimony” in the Dunnville community from the two warring sides.
Advertisement 6
Article content
There have been reports of bullying from those involved and their supporters and “both sides” have called the police on each other, she said.
Tyler Caissie, who attacked two of the teens with two different weapons and used the baseball bat, “showed zero regard for the safety of others”. He also pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and having a dangerous weapon and was given an 18-month jail sentence.
Lawrence Caissie also pleaded guilty to having a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to 12 months.
Brandon Caissie, who didn’t take a weapon to the fight, was given nine months.
Each of the men will have to serve a two-year probation once released during which they cannot be near their victims and are under weapon restrictions.
@EXPSGamble
Article content