Newton sentenced to 7 years for Kelowna transit bus stabbing

On board a Kelowna city transit bus, high on heroin, paranoid and delusional, 23-year-old Tyler Newton sat behind Caesar Rosales in October 2014 and stabbed him once in the neck.

Rosales died at the scene.

Newton was charged with second degree murder. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 7 years in prison Friday.

Rosales’ brother, who came from the Philippines to attend the trial, said it’s a slap on the wrist.

“The bars that were used as benchmarks for punishments gets lower and lower,” said Darwin Rosales.

Justice Heather Holmes said she took into account Newton’s state of mind when he killed Rosales.

“It is extremely important that people who embark on the use of mind altering drugs which carry high risks of inducing behaviour out of their conscious or rational control understand that they will be held accountable for harm that they do to others while they are in the intoxicated or altered state,” Holmes said.

“Mr. Newton, it is important that you realize that your number one priority in life is to overcome your substance addiction and to remain clean. You owe that to the Rosales family and to your own family as well as to yourself.”

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Barb Dawson was riding the bus during the deadly attack and said she’s speechless at the violence she witnessed. She performed first aid on Rosales and tried to stop the bleeding from his neck wound.

“I think about Caesar every day. Like every day. It’s impacted me a great deal,” said Dawson.

Newton’s laywer, Jordon Watt, said his client is remorseful for what he’s done but admits he still doesn’t know why the deadly attack happened.

“I don’t think there’s any specific explanation for why he did it,” said Watt.

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“He was unfortunately in a disorganized, altered state of mind and was acting upon hallucinations and delusions at the time.”

Newton is being credited for time served. With that taken into account, he has another four and a half years behind bars.