Dalia Kafi said her life was forever changed after she was thrown face first to the ground by a Calgary police officer in 2017.
She appeared at the Calgary Courts Centre Thursday as lawyers made submissions for a sentence for Const. Alex Dunn.
Dunn, 34, was found guilty of assault causing bodily harm after video showed him throwing a handcuffed woman to the ground face-first, stemming from an arrest in 2017.
The video of the arrest from Dec. 13, 2017 was presented as evidence in court at the trial for Dunn.
On Thursday, the Crown submitted that Dunn be sentenced to nine months incarceration and a five-year firearms prohibition.
Crown prosecutor Ryan Pollard argued that these are offences that shatter the community’s trust in the system.
Pollard acknowledged that the court did not find the assault was racially motivated, but added it shouldn’t be ignored that the victim is Black and the offender is white.
The defence said that Dunn’s career with the Calgary Police Service is likely over and that he has suffered financially after being suspended without pay.
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Defence lawyer Cory Wilson said that Dunn has lost his reputation in the community and that he was forced to stop volunteer work as a result.
Wilson said Dunn’s future prospects have been diminished due to the fact that the video was spread widely on social media in North America and even shared by celebrities.
The defence submitted that Dunn face a conditional sentence order and if the court felt incarceration was necessary, it be 30-45 days served intermittently.
Kafi said that it was hard to sit in the same room as Dunn.
“Every time I look in the mirror I see the scar on my lip and then it’s a flashback from that night and what happened,” Kafi said.
“I felt like I was useless. I felt like I was nothing.”
In her victim impact statement which was read aloud in court, Kafi said she wanted Dunn to apologize to her face.
Wilson apologized on Dunn’s behalf in court but Kafi said it meant nothing.
“It’s harder and harder every time I see him. But it’s better to face him than to run away.”
Judge Michelle Christopher reserved her decision and a date will be set later in February.
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