At the end of a high-profile sentencing hearing in Stratford on Tuesday, the judge’s final words were not for Derek Boyd, the man he had just sentenced to 16 years in prison for attempted murder.
Instead, Superior Court Justice Marc Garson turned his attention to Boyd’s victim.
“You are brave, resilient and an inspiration to others,” he told her as she was comforted by supporters in the courtroom’s public gallery. “Your voice has been heard.”
Boyd pleaded guilty to the charge last September, about 18 months after a shocking attack near an elementary school in St. Marys sent a woman to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
After a series of adjournments allowed Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Wilson and defense lawyer Amy Robern to gather a pre-sentence report and expert testimony from a forensic psychologist, Boyd’s three-day sentencing hearing began in March.
Gradually, more details about Boyd’s attack and its impact on the small Southwestern Ontario community became public.
The woman – whom the Beacon Herald has decided not to identify – had been dating Boyd for about three years when she decided to end the relationship on Feb. 12, 2020. The final straw, Garson noted, was the woman’s discovery that Boyd had lied to her about being diagnosed with cancer.
The attack happened the next day.
After dropping her son off at school, the woman noticed a puncture in one of the tires of her rental car and called roadside assistance. She was on the phone with a male friend when Boyd approached the car, opened the driver’s side door, and lunged into the vehicle holding a “steak-style knife.”
During an ensuing struggle, the woman was stabilized twice, once in her right abdomen and again in her right shoulder. The knife passed between two ribs, through her liver and nicked her gallbladder, the court has heard.
The woman managed to escape through the passenger’s side door after kicking the car’s horn to alert people nearby, and ran into the main lobby of the school. She was rushed to Victoria Hospital in London. Multiple stitches and staples were required to close her wounds and emergency surgery was required to repair damage to her abdomen.
“The victim before me is alive today because of her actions,” Garson said. “She fought for her life.”
The attack has left the woman with physical and psychological scars, and has shattered the school community’s sense of security and well-being, according to victim impact statements.
In his sentencing decision, Garson said the time and location of the attack were among several aggravating factors he considered, pointing out that, while the victim’s son did not witness the attack, “he is nonetheless scarred.” Garson also considered the woman’s status as a former intimate partner, the weapon Boyd used in the attack, the fact Boyd fled the scene and his lengthy criminal record – in particular a 2006 conviction for sexual assault with a weapon.
In response to the Crown’s request for a life sentence, Garson acknowledged Tuesday “this case and this offender present a troubling set of factors,” including a pattern of violence and deceit designed to stall the end of romantic relationships. He also acknowledged Wilson’s argument that sentences in these types of cases are trending upward.
Garson agreed with Robern, however, that Boyd’s case was not brutal enough for the maximum sentence when compared to others. Garson outlined aa smaller list of mitigating factors during his decision, which include Boyd’s guilty plea, letters of support from friends, and a genuine and repeated remorse Garson described as “heartfelt” and “sincere.”
Earlier Tuesday, the court heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr. Julian Gojer. In his testimony, Gojer told the court Boyd suffers from an antisocial personality disorder. He described Boyd’s risk of reoffending violently as moderate to high, especially in domestic situations where he feels abandoned or rejected, and recommended psychologist-led treatments available in the penitentiary system.
Boyd told the author of his pre-sentence report that his childhood in Stratford was “a mixed bag.” He was sexually abused by a hockey coach in Stratford from the ages of eight to 12, an experience he described as “unbearable.” Boyd’s parents were dismissive and he’s been estranged from them and his siblings for 20 years.
Before his arrest, Boyd was operating two now-shuttered Herc’s Nutrition stores in London and was well known in the city’s fitness community.
Robern was seeking an award between 10 to 12 years.
Garson did not meet the Crown and the defense in the middle, deciding instead on a 16-year award minus credit for time served and delays due to the pandemic. Boyd’s net award works out to just over 14-and-a-half years. The sentence comes with a lifetime weapons ban, a DNA order, an order prohibiting contact with the victim, and the treatment recommended in Gojer’s report.
Through “good fortunate and hard work,” most of the victims scars have healed “but mental scars remain,” Garson said. “The victim’s life is forever changed.”