Justice Miscarried

(Aired on August 23, 2010)

So you want to know why we have no faith in our justice system? Here’s a perfect example. Last week, the legal system failed 15-year-old Ashley Aebig of Nanaimo. She was a passenger in a vehicle driven by 25-year-old Cory Barker in July of 2007. Barker was driving with more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. The court gave him a conditional sentence.

A conditional sentence. You know what that means? Not even a real slap on the wrist. Both crown and defence lawyers said there were “mitigating” circumstances in the case. These mitigating circumstances apparently related to Barker’s history of psychiatric problems, and his self-medication, which included the use of marijuana to make it easier to cope with his schizophrenia and depression.

Somehow that should make it OK to have twice the legal amount of alcohol and cause someone to be killed? That’s our justice system? Who could possibly think that’s right? So the judge imposed a five-year driving ban on Barker. That’s supposed to be a penalty? And he stays at his residence at all times. That’s a penalty? A young girl loses her life because someone drank too much and then the man who caused it walks away without serving a day of jail time?

The perception of the law must be seen to be followed as well as the reality of the law. In this case, neither was followed. If Barker were given time in a psychiatric facility to deal with his problems and learn to cope, I guess I might think that there is some justice. But when a person who has severe problems doesn’t get anything? That’s just plain wrong.

I’m not as hard-nosed as many I know about justice. I tend to be pretty compassionate. But in this case, there was an absolute miscarriage of justice in my opinion. I can’t see how justice was served in any way in this case, and I have the deepest sympathy for the parents of a girl who was killed without any serious punishment for the perpetrator.