WINDSOR, ONT. -- A shooting at a house party in 2017 will see a Windsor man spend another six years and four months behind bars.
On Wednesday, Justice Bruce Thomas sentenced Sumar Al-Rubayi to 10 years for manslaughter after Al-Rubayi fired off five shots from a handgun at a home in the 1100-block of Heathfield Court in east Windsor, killing 23-year-old Jarvas Poberezny.
“I respect his reasoning today a great deal and overall, I’m quite pleased with the result,” said Bryan Pillon, assistant Crown Attorney.
Justice Thomas gave Al-Rubayi credit of three years and eight months for time already served in pre-sentence custody.
The judge noted in his decision despite Al-Rubayi’s lack of criminal record at the time of the offence, the action was a “serious violent crime” and “must be met by a strong sentence.”
Al-Rubayi pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in September after initially being charged with first-degree murder.
Justice Thomas also handed Al-Rubayi a lifetime firearm ban and required the 22-year-old to submit a blood sample for the national DNA data bank.
“This was a very severe sentence,” said Pillon. “This was a sentence that really denounced that conduct. It should deter it, for him certainly but, also other offenders.”
Defence lawyer Brian Kolman had requested a sentencing range of six to eight years.
The offence carried a minimum sentence of four years.
Justice Thomas recognized Al-Rubayi had expressed some remorse for his actions and saved the victim’s family the pain of a trial with his guilty plea. The judge also recognized Al-Rubayi’s pre-sentence custody may have had some positive impact as the young man completed five educational programs while in prison.
Despite the mitigating factors, Justice Thomas stressed the action of bringing and firing a handgun into a crowded home in a residential area required a severe sentence.
“It’s something we can’t accept in this community or any community in Ontario,” said Pillon. “Gun violence has been something we’ve been grappling with as a justice system for many years.”
The incident happened on Nov. 4, 2017.