Judge sentences Ukrainian newcomer’s Canada Day 2022 attacker

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/11/2024 (351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man who stabbed a newly arrived Ukrainian refugee in the neck during an unprovoked Canada Day attack at The Forks has been sentenced to four years in custody.

Jayden Kyle Martin, 22, previously pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault for the July 1, 2022, attack.

Court heard at a previous sentencing hearing Martin was so intoxicated he had no memory of the incident.

While in custody at Headingley Correctional Centre, he has been undergoing counselling for alcohol and drug addiction and showing positive progress, court was told.

Martin received credit for pre-sentence custody, allowing him to serve the remaining 22 months of his sentence in a provincial jail, not prison.

Martin, who is Indigenous, had a “disruptive” upbringing, marked by periods of upheaval, time in foster care and regular exposure to drug and alcohol abuse, said provincial court Judge Mary-Kate Harvie.

“His efforts to address his underlying issues are important factor for me to consider in the sentencing process,” said Harvie, who sentenced Martin to an additional three years of supervised probation.

“I recognize that some may view this (sentence) as being on the lower end of the scale,” she said. “However, one of the important aspects of a sentence of this length is that it allows for the imposition of a period of supervised probation. I am satisfied that is an important factor for the court to take into consideration when I consider the need for a careful transition of this offender from the institution and into the community.”

Co-accused Tyson Bechard, 21, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced in September to four years in prison. A male youth accused was previously sentenced to three years custody and community supervision.

Volodymir Ishchenko and a male friend, also a Ukrainian refugee, had been in Winnipeg for just two weeks when they crossed paths with the three offenders and a fourth male who wasn’t charged.

According to an agreed statement of facts previously provided o court, Ishchenko and his friend were crossing Israel Asper Way, near the museum, at about 10:40 p.m. when Ishchenko’s friend accidentally bumped into one of Martin’s group, apologized and continued walking.

The offenders started yelling at Ishchenko and his friend and charged at them. Martin had a knife and the youth offender had a can of bear spray.

Ishchenko stopped, asked what was going on and apologized before the youth discharged the bear spray in his face, causing him to fall to the ground.

Martin approached Ishchenko, said something he didn’t understand, then stabbed him in the neck.

Bechard punched Ishchenko two times in the head as the victim pleaded: “Comrades, I’m from Ukraine. I’m from Ukraine.”

At that point, one of the other males in the group shook the hands of the two Ukrainian men and apologized before fleeing.

Ishchenko’s friend flagged down a passerby, who called 911. Ishchenko underwent surgery for two stab wounds to his neck and a collapsed lung. He spent five days in hospital.

Security video showed Martin, Bechard and the youth offender boarding a city bus minutes after the attack. Security video on the bus recorded the group laughing and boasting about the assault and wondering if it would be on the news.

In a victim impact statement, Ishchenko described suffering “unbearable” pain” following the attack and being “one step away from death.”

“I constantly replay events in my mind” and suffer “nightmares and a pervasive sense of vulnerability,” Ishchenko wrote. His attackers “encroached on the most intimate thing I have — my life — without any reason, no questions, no warning.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca