Almost four months after he was found guilty of murder and attempted murder, a Guyanese man was on Thursday sentenced to 30 years to life in prison by a Canadian court, the Toronto Star has reported.
Christopher Husbands was found guilty of gunning down two men in a crowded Eaton Centre food court on June 2, 2012.
The report quoted Superior Court Justice Eugene Ewaschuk as saying that the “outrageous and horrific” shooting shocked the city as he sentenced Husbands to serve two consecutive 15-year periods of parole ineligibility under a recent law that applies in cases with multiple murders.
As a result, Husbands will have to serve a 30-year-long sentence before he could apply for parole.
According to the report, last December a jury convicted Husbands, 25, of two counts of second-degree murder, five counts of aggravated assault, one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of recklessly discharging a firearm.
It said that chilling surveillance video of the incident showed Husbands shooting and killing Ahmed Hassan, 24, and Nixon Nirmalendran, 22, as panicked crowds fled the food court.
In his decision, Judge Ewaschuk noted that in addition to his criminal record and admissions of drug dealing and “holding” firearms for others, Husbands had “an utter contempt for court orders.”
At the time of the shooting, Husbands was out on bail and under house arrest after being charged with sexual assault.
At trial, Husbands’ lawyer Dirk Derstine argued that his client was not criminally responsible for the shooting because he had been in a trauma-induced robotic state.
Husbands had been stabbed multiple times by a group of men months before the shooting and he claimed it left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Testifying in his own defence, Husbands claims to have no memory of the shooting, but told the jury he feared for his life when one of the men he says attacked him threatened him. No threats were seen on the surveillance video.
