I don't know what's worse: a recent news story about a woman whose husband killed her after years of abuse, then buried her body in their East Vancouver basement, or the one about another woman, also in Vancouver, who was strangled to death by her husband who suspected she was having an affair.
In both cases, the perpetrator got off lightly. One died before the accusations - that he killed his wife in front of their child then proceeded to bury her in their basement while telling everyone she ran off to another country - surfaced. The other will spend just 2 years in prison because of a legal loophole granted by the judge who said he was satisfied that the accused had shown "great remorse."
Am I living in the Twilight Zone? Since when did feeling bad about strangling someone, stuffing their body in a cardboard box, and dumping it in a remote location - all details of the case - become a reason to impose a short jail sentence? I thought the initial 10 years they slapped on him for manslaughter was paltry. But the judge determined that, because the husband was otherwise a law-abiding citizen and devoted to his children, the rage that led him to kill his wife was pardonable and not sufficient intent for murder.
Mind-numbing logic, I know. Adding further insult to death, the victim had come to Canada from the Philippines to work as a nanny, sponsoring her husband and four children to follow. The irony of this is sickening. Wondering what other crimes committed in Canada could possibly garner a similar sentence, I did some research. Failing to file a tax return comes close. An individual may be sentenced up to 12 months in jail and penalized by a fine of between $1,000 and $25,000. Tax evasion - the deliberate omission of income on a return - landed a naturopath in Moose Jaw, Sask. behind bars for 16 months and a fine of $190,000 last year (less time, but the hefty fine is added inconvenience beyond the four confining walls of a jail cell). False or misleading statements on an income tax return will land you a little closer - an individual may be sentenced up two years in jail.
Drug crimes, on the other hand, will see you spending more time in the slammer with more damage to your bank account. The first offence for trafficking in cocaine, heroin, LSD or methamphetamine carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five or 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $4 million. Take a look at one court case last December. An Air Canada flight attendant from Ontario was sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling about $400,000 worth of cocaine from Canada to Europe through Pearson and Heathrow airports. I'm sure she felt "great remorse" after being found out - who wouldn't? But the sentencing she received compared to the domestic murder in Vancouver demonstrates that her crime - abusing one's position to skirt airport security in Canada and the U.K. - is perceived by the Canadian legal system to be a much more serious offence - and less likely to inspire sympathy from a judge - than a man murdering his spouse out of unfounded jealousy and lying about it for weeks while pretending to join in the massive search for her body.
Letters written by the couple's three sons, stating their father had "confessed and apologized" and was "a changed man," were actually read out by the judge during the sentencing, the implications of which are astounding. A public official choosing to preside over a confessional box where sins are confessed and forgiven - instead of a criminal courtroom where the guilty are convicted and sentenced - has clearly lost the plot.
If the recent rash of news stories about murdered wives and missing girls in British Columbia isn't an alarming indication that a clampdown on violent crime is needed in our province to ensure criminals serve sentences that better reflect the severity of their crimes, I don't know what is.
