The Court of Appeal for Ontario recently ordered a new trial for a Sarnia-area First Nation man, who was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder five years ago of several charges including assault with a weapon.
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But that trial won’t be happening as all of the charges Terrence Nahmabin was facing from 2019 that were sent back to provincial court have been dropped as part of a recent plea deal that saw the 32-year-old Aamjiwnaang man get a 90- day, time-served sentence for one conviction of assault with a weapon.
Nahmabin was found not criminally responsible for breaching probation, mischief, and assault with a weapon on Sept. 5, 2019, by Justice Anne McFadyen in Sarnia.
During an appeal hearing on June 13, Nahmabin’s lawyer, Cassandra DeMelo, raised a two-point argument: there were procedural deficiencies in the plea and the not criminally responsible proceedings that rendered the process fundamentally unfair and caused a miscarriage of justice; and McFadyen improperly applied the test for a not criminally responsible finding. Because of this, the verdicts were unreasonable, DeMelo argued.
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In a decision released on July 5, a three-judge panel said they agreed the appeal should be allowed as both issues raised in the argument didn’t meet the criteria.
“We find there was procedural unfairness amounting to a miscarriage of justice,” they wrote. “The appeal is allowed in relation to all charges. The (not criminally responsible) finding and ancillary orders are set aside, and a new trial is ordered.”
The charges were recently brought back into a Sarnia courtroom, where Nahmabin pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a weapon – he threw a cup of liquid at a corrections officer when he was an inmate in the Sarnia Jail on April 14, 2019 – while the rest of them were dropped. Nahmabin got a time-served, three-month sentence by using credit from time he spent in jail in early 2019.
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“Mr. Nahmabin spent nearly five years in the jurisdiction of the (Ontario Review Board) in hospital,” DeMelo told Justice Mark Poland, adding she wasn’t asking for extra credit but thought it was prudent he knew that.
The board, an independent tribunal, has jurisdiction over people who have been found by a court to be either unfit to stand trial or not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder, according to its website.
DeMelo said Nahmabin has a history of drug addiction including to crystal meth, oxy and cocaine, which made it an interesting case to argue with the interweaving of his mental-health diagnosis.
“It was a psychosis that was the concern, together with drug-induced psychosis that became very a difficulty, like I said, interweaving, that we were trying to untangle in this (not criminally responsible) question that leads us to today,” she told Poland.
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DeMelo said Nahmabin understands the key to staying out of trouble, and custody, is not using street drugs.
In 2013, he received six months in jail for trying to take drugs into the Sarnia Jail and another 90 days for stealing from his mother to cover a drug debt.
He also willingly takes prescription medication and does counseling, DeMelo said.
“I think this young person has insight. He’s certainly gone through quite a bit of turmoil to get him to this point,” she said of the past five years.
Assistant Crown attorney Aniko Coughlan told judge DeMelo did a thorough job explaining the case’s history and how it got to this point.
Nahmabin declined a chance to address the court.
“No thanks you, sir,” he said.
Poland told him it’s unfortunate he spent so much time under the board’s jurisdiction in light of the appeal court’s ruling, but noted it seems to have given him a period of stability, as this was his first criminal conviction since 2018.
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“My real hope for you, Mr. Nahmabin, is that you’ve managed to find a little bit of balance in your life. It sounds like you really have,” he said.
“Yeah,” Nahmabin responded.
“That’s great. Super important,” Poland said.
Nahmabin also got two years of probation that bans him from contacting the corrections officer he dosed, but also focuses on helping him with his mental health.
“Terrence, good luck to you. I wish you the very best for your future,” Poland said.
“Thank you, sir,” he said.
Nahmabin – his first name was spelled Terrance at both levels of court but it was Terrence when he logs into court by video link on his cellphone – has no outstanding charges, records show.
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