Ontario judge decries justice system for prioritizing foreign-born criminals over their Canadian victims
An Ontario judge has launched a remarkable attack on the Canadian judiciary, arguing that the justice system is “at an inflexion point” and must decide whether to prioritize the needs of vulnerable Canadians or criminals who have abused them.
Justice Antonio Skarica’s broadside on his fellow judges came as he sentenced a Nigerian university student who extorted a Canadian woman and left her in “constant fear” by sharing her intimate image. He sentenced Boss Omeire to 28 months in prison in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice.
“In my opinion, the Canadian justice system is at an inflexion point. Who should get priority: Should it be a foreign-born individual with no current immigration status, who was granted the privilege of attending one of our educational institutions, and used that opportunity to abuse a law-abiding, honest, hardworking but vulnerable Canadian citizen? Asking that question provides the obvious answer,” Skarica wrote in a recent decision.
“I believe that the accused was in large part successful in ruining the complainant’s life as he threatened and promised while the offence was occurring.”
The Crown had sought a sentence of two years less a day, said the decision. Omeire’s lawyer “did not specify a number, but wishes less time than the Crown requests.” His parents urged the judge to grant him a conditional discharge so he could stay in Canada.
The case comes as judges grapple with the question of how much, if at all, immigration consequences should factor into sentencing.
A Quebec judge recently accused the provincial prosecutor of regularly proposing absolute discharges or lenient sentences for non-Canadians convicted of crimes because it puts them at risk of deportation. That creates an “unnecessary” two-tier system, according to Court of Quebec Judge Antoine Piché.
The courts “often talk about the principles of deterrence and denunciation, and then contradict those grandiose proclamations by instituting relatively light sentences,” said Skarica, who was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2000, representing the Hamilton area.
“These proclamations are akin to what appears to be an ongoing current Canadian cultural trend to express shock and outrage at criminal attacks on vulnerable targets, followed by hollow words of condemnation such as, ‘This is not who we are,’ followed again by relative inaction, thereby ignoring the disturbing reality that this is now clearly what we have indeed become.”
Omeire was convicted earlier this year of extorting $50 from the woman in March 2023, transmitting an intimate image of her without her consent, and three counts of breaching his bail conditions.
“The accused and K.B., the complainant, had been in an intimate relationship,” Skarica said in his March 30 decision. “The accused demanded $50 or he would distribute sexually explicit videos of the complainant having sex with the accused.”
Omeire had promised the woman “that her life would be completely decimated by the next day,” said the judge, noting she “practically begged the accused not to send the explicit video.”
She paid Omeire the $50 but he “posted the sexually explicit video anyway,” Skarica said. He noted the woman had a gag in her mouth in the video Omeire posted on his private Snapchat story.
Omeire “told K.B. that eleven people had viewed the intimate image, and seven people had replied,” said the decision. “The victim indicated, ‘This is blackmail,’ and the accused said it was not blackmail; it was torture.”
Omeire “was subsequently arrested and released on bail but violated the release terms by continuing to contact the complainant.”
The judge found that Omeire “intentionally violated K.B.’s dignity in a variety of ways in transmitting or threatening to transmit the intimate image.”
Omeire told her “that her life would be decimated. She would not recognize her life.”
Skarica concluded that Omeire “intentionally used the intimate image to frighten and psychologically torment the victim in an attempt to strip her of her dignity. Accordingly, the accused flagrantly, cruelly, and deliberately invaded her reasonable expectation of privacy in the intimate image he distributed” on March 15, 2023.
Omeire, who was born in Lagos, had been an international student in Canada since 2014.
His sister and two brothers followed him to Canada, but his parents live in Nigeria.
Omeire doesn’t work, but he “started his own online ministry” in 2023, said the decision. His father still supports him.
He had been studying chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo, but Omeire’s studies are “on hold in his third year due to the matter before the court.”
The judge questioned “what serious student takes nine years to obtain a four-year degree?”
Omeire “had a marijuana use problem from 2016 up until 2023,” said the decision. “He stopped smoking marijuana in 2023 and has no issues with alcohol or illicit drugs.”
Omeire failed to leave Canada in 2023 when his study permit expired, said the decision. “The accused currently has no legal status in Canada, and has a removal order.”
His parents and sisters asked the judge “for a conditional discharge to enable the accused to complete his studies,” said the decision. “The parents indicate between 2016 and 2021 the accused was hospitalized for drug-induced psychosis and bipolar disorder.”
A letter from Omeire’s parents indicated that “during his three years on bail he dedicated himself to God, walking the streets to evangelize and mentoring young people to avoid the traps that led to his own mistakes. Even now in the correctional facility, he continues to minister to fellow inmates. He is a man of faith seeking redemption not a career criminal.”
Omeire’s parents note a “sentence of six months or more would strip him of his right to appeal his removal on humanitarian grounds. We passionately plead for a conditional discharge. This is the only path that allows his legal team to argue for a stay in Canada, enabling him to remain in our care to manage his psychosis and finally complete his degree at the University of Waterloo. To deport him now would permanently erase the decades of sacrifice and the hundreds of thousands of dollars we have invested in education.”
The “character they portray,” said the judge, “is totally at odds with the evidence of the accused’s character and actions proved at this trial beyond a reasonable doubt.”
K.B. described Omeira as “forceful, stern, manipulative, and that he thinks he is above everyone else,” said the decision. “She reports that the accused is emotionally and verbally abusive towards her, and also, he became physically abusive. Both her and the police indicate that the victim has safety concerns and is fearful for her safety.”
The woman told the court that the events that unfolded between her and Omeira in the spring of 2023 “made me feel completely powerless. Being threatened and extorted made it feel like Boss was in full control to do whatever he wanted to me. Seeing the explicit video of me physically posted to the social media platform made my heart sink. An act that I did in private with someone who I thought I could trust, out there for anybody to see. It made me feel sick to my stomach, and I felt all my autonomy disappear.”
She described “living in constant fear,” for the last three years, “knowing that at any time he can make a reappearance.”
The woman described multiple safety precautions she’s taken in recent years. “Additionally, any time I heard the elevator ding, I froze until I heard the person go into their apartment, worried that it was going to be Boss at any moment. My head has constantly been on a swivel, being hypervigilant still to this day. Throughout this entire time, fear of my safety has been my primary impact. After it all happened, any time I saw a man who resembled Boss from a distance, I feared for my safety until I could confirm it was not him. I could not and still cannot carry out simple tasks such as walking in public spaces or taking public transit without fearing for my safety.”
The woman was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder “because of what Boss had done to me,” said the decision.
She got counselling for 14 months and had difficulty sleeping. “I would wake in the middle of the night for hours, hearing the messages he sent and reliving the whole thing as if I was in that moment again. I constantly had dreams about him and could not escape that reality. I was not able to concentrate at work, and found myself easily irritated. To this day, I still have symptoms of PTSD. I still get flashbacks from these incidents, and have nightmares,” she said according to the decision.
The judge noted Omeire took the “stand and indicated that he is in fact very sorry for what he has done.”
His “intention was to use the intimate image to frighten, to psychologically torment the complainant in order to strip her of her dignity,” Skarica said. “In fact, I find that it was a deliberate attempt to cruelly strip her of her dignity in order to ruin her life, which he in fact stated.”
Omeire contacted his victim multiple times after he was first arrested, “thereby displaying a callous disregard and disrespect for court orders and the complainant herself,” said the judge. “As a result, the victim continues to live in fear of the accused, a fear which I find to be reasonable in these circumstances.”
Skarica noted “the unfortunate fact that the Canadian public has the perception that the Canadian justice system is soft on crime, and further prioritizes the rights of criminals over the rights of victims. Regrettably, the history of these proceedings provides ample and further support for that public perception.”
Omeire shouldn’t have been at large on bail in 2023, Skarica said. “He should not have been in this country at all.”
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