No further jail for man who tried to steal from dying assault victim

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2011 (5250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – A transgender man will serve no further time in jail for trying to rob a dying assault victim as he lay on a city sidewalk.

Joseph McNabb, 29, walked out of court Friday with a sentence of time already served and three years of supervised probation. He has spent one year in pre-trial custody, which Justice Kenneth Hanssen elected to give double-time credit for a two-year sentence on paper.

McNabb is transgender and was seeking up to triple-time credit, citing the mocking and torment he has allegedly received while living as a woman behind bars.

The Crown wanted McNabb to receive only single-time credit, noting his extensive criminal record and long history of breaching court orders.

Ultimately, Hanssen split the difference and ruled that McNabb can leave jail immediately for a treatment program through the Elizabeth Fry Society, which offers transitional housing.

“Your rehabilitation is both in your best interests and that of society,” said Hanssen.

Recent legislative changes have outlawed the two-for-one credit that was routinely being given out by Canadian judges. However, McNabb’s case pre-dates the changes and he was still eligible.

McNabb has the physical appearance of a woman and has been kept in the medical ward of the remand centre because it would be unsafe to put him in either the men’s or women’s ward of the jail, court was told. He has been threatened with violence and subjected to taunts from other inmates and even some corrections officers.

McNabb was convicted earlier this year of rummaging through the pockets of an unconscious, dying man and trying to rob him. However, McNabb was found not guilty of manslaughter in the case because Hanssen ruled there were elements of self-defence and provocation in the April 2009 killing of Evaristo Caniuman.

The 60-year-old victim died of head trauma after being knocked to the ground at Sargent Avenue and Young Street.

McNabb didn’t deny pushing Caniuman but said it came after the man approached him on the street, asked for a sexual favour and then tried to steal his shoes. McNabb, took offence at the uninvited solicitation and fought back.

McNabb told homicide detectives in a videotaped interview that Caniuman fell to the ground, hitting his head on the cement. McNabb said he fled and doesn’t have a clear memory of the incident because he was drunk.

Caniuman was rushed to hospital with head trauma and died six days later.