A Toronto-area man was handed a three-year sentence Monday for a bloody shooting and stabbing that killed a man in a Chatham home in October 2022.
A Toronto-area man was handed a three-year sentence Monday for a bloody shooting and stabbing that killed a man in a Chatham home in October 2022.
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Marvin Garraway, who was originally charged with second-degree murder in the death of Randall Rouse, 28, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter Nov. 24, 2023, wept at times during his trial in Superior Court in Chatham Monday.
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Garraway, 36, also pleaded guilty to using a firearm after committing an unspeakable offense.
According to the agreed statement of facts presented to the court in November, Garraway and Rouse didn’t know each other and met by chance at a Colborne Street home on Oct. 7, 2022.
Home surveillance video captured the incident that escalated quickly from two men having words to a violent clash in which Rouse pulled a .22-caliber handgun and fired several shots at Garraway, hitting him once in the abdomen and once in the arm.
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As the two struggled, Garraway grabbed a nearby knife and repeatedly stabbed Rouse. Garraway also got hold of the gun and fired a non-fatal shot into Rouse’s neck.
Garraway fired more shots as he fled the home before heading to a London hospital for treatment.
Rouse was taken to hospital in Chatham, where he died.
Autopsy revealed Garraway stabbed Rouse nine times in the head, neck and chest, with just one stab wound being fatal.
In passing sentence, Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas called the incident “a bizarre and senseless loss of life.”
As the defense made its sentencing submission, Thomas said the incident made “very little sense,” noting there was no prior feud between the two men so “there’s no motive one could think of.”
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When offered a chance to address the court, Garraway said he had not written anything and that what he had to say came from the heart.
He offered his condolences and an apology to Rouse’s family.
“The result of this incident doesn’t determine who I am,” he added.
Two victim impact statements were filed, but only one — from Rouse’s mother, Ella O’Neill — was read out in court by assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin.
O’Neill said she has not only lost a son, but her granddaughter has been left without a father, she wrote.
She has nightmares about Garraway “brutally and repeatedly (stabbing) my son to death,” adding Rouse’s death has caused her family a lot of pain. “We are dead inside, there is no forgiveness.”
The defense sought a sentence of time served, noting Garraway had spent 485 days in pre-sentence custody, which equates to 728 days, nearly two years when a 1.5 credit is applied. It also asked for 18-months to two years of probation.
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The Crown called for a four- to five-year jail term.
In imposing a three-year jail sentence, Thomas gave Garraway credit for the pre-sentence custody, meaning he has just over a year left to serve. When released from jail, Garraway will be on probation for two years.
The judge ordered Garraway to provide a blood sample to the DNA databank and imposed a lifetime weapons ban.
Thomas gave Garraway credit for leading guilty and expressing remorse. He also took into account Garraway has strong family support, noting family was in the courtroom Monday.
But the judge found the way Garraway repeatedly and “furiously stabbed” Rouse and that Garraway had admitted in a pre-sentence report to using excessive force to defend himself to be aggravating factor.
Though the last time Garraway committed a crime was in 2017, Thomas noted his previous convictions on three counts of assault and single counts of aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon were also aggravating factors.
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