A judge dismissed a Charter application and upheld a life sentence Friday against a man who beat a fellow LRT passenger to death in December 2012.
Jeremy Newborn was convicted of second-degree murder in April 2016.
He was charged in the death of John Hollar, 29, who sustained severe head injuries during the attack. The beating took place in front of several other passengers and was captured on LRT surveillance video.
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Hollar was taken to hospital and put on life support but died several days later.
Newborn was being treated at Alberta Hospital for what his defense lawyer, Simon Renouf, described as “psychological problems.”
The Crown asked the court that Newborn be treated and assessed for another 30 days before sentencing.
READ MORE: Victim beaten on Edmonton transit train dies in hospital of injuries
Newborn launched a Charter challenge on the automatic life sentence due to his low IQ and fetal alcohol-like symptoms.
On Friday, the judge dismissed the challenge.
“I am not satisfied… that Mr. Newborn’s intellectual disability will affect his ability to cope in a prison environment,” Justice Brian Burrows said in his written decision. “No expert witness testified or reported… Mr. Newborn’s intellectual disability would have that affect.”
Newborn will serve a life sentence with no chance of parole for 15 years.
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“I have been waiting for this day for five years,” Manwar Khan told Global News on Friday afternoon.
“In this kind of situation, no one wins. There’s impacts on the victim’s family, impacts on the accused’s family but I think justice has been served,” he said.
Khan was on the LRT when the unprovoked beating started.
“I was in the train. The whole thing happened in front of everyone,” Khan said. “We all were scared. I was scared. But still, I tried to mobilize some people on the train.
“If we could stop the beating… It didn’t work. I failed. I couldn’t save John Hollar. I would say sorry to his family that we couldn’t save your son.”
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In the wake of the attack, Khan launched a campaign in 2013 called “Do Not Be a Bystander.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s family or not. It’s not right when things like this are happening and we watch, walk away, don’t do anything. That’s not right,” Khan said.
“When something like this happens, of course you have to be a in safer position, but you cannot walk away from them. Take a stand, call 911 or mobilize people against that. You just don’t say, ‘It’s not my business.'”
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