Image Credit: Inset courtesy of Global
September 12, 2014 - 2:38 PM
PENTICTON - The dangerous offender hearing and sentencing of David Bobbitt will continue next month.
Bobbitt pleaded guilty last year to seven charges, including unlawful confinement, and sexual and aggravated assault in relation to a 2011 incident when he confined a 22-year-old woman and her toddler in his second-hand store, sexually assaulted the woman and hit her over the head with a hammer. The woman suffered extreme blood loss and a depressed skull fracture, but survived the assault. Her son was not harmed.
Crown prosecutors Nashina Devji and Debra Drissell expected the hearing and sentencing to take three weeks, however those weeks have passed and there are still more witnesses to call.
The Crown has called a number of witnesses to the stand already, including the victim’s mother, doctors, and police officers. Witnesses to an alleged 2007 sexual assault case involving Bobbitt and an ex-girlfriend have also spoken in front of Justice Peter Rogers in Penticton Supreme Court.
Once all the witnesses are called by both Crown and defence lawyers, Rogers will determine a sentence for Bobbitt based on the charges made in the 2011 case. He will also determine whether Bobbitt can be labelled a dangerous offender, which could influence the sentence term. A dangerous offender is a person who is considered to be a dangerous threat to the public because of past convictions and charges.
The case will be back in court on October 20-21, 2014. Bobbitt will remain in custody at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Meaghan Archer at marcher@infotelnews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014