TORONTO – An Ontario Superior Court judge has sentenced the man accused of firing the shot that killed Jane Creba to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 12 years.
Justice John McMahon said he accepted the joint submission of Crown and defence in large part because of the genuine remorse showed by Jeremiah Valentine in pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
"If it were not for your guilty plea, the term of parole ineligibility would have been significantly higher," said McMahon.
The judge noted there were "evidentiary challenges" in the Crown case against Valentine. The key prosecution witness against him had been arrested five times since he testified at the preliminary hearing, the court heard.
At the same time, there were a number of "aggravating factors" the judge outlined in sentencing Valentine.
The 27-year-old man has a lengthy criminal record and a "predilection for possession of illegal firearms," said McMahon.
"I know you would like to turn back time. But you can’t," said the judge.
"I have no difficulty in concluding that you have irreparably damaged Ms. Creba’s family. This was a young woman whose only mistake was to think she could go on a family shopping trip on Boxing Day," stated McMahon.
The sentence was imposed Tuesday afternoon, a couple hours after Valentine admitted his involvement in the Boxing Day 2005 shootout in downtown Toronto that claimed the life of the 15-year-old high school student.
His lawyer Edward Sapiano told the court Valentine was the victim of an attempted robbery of his gold chain inside a Foot Locker store by a much larger group of young men.
After displaying his gun to warn them off, two men from the larger group also pulled out weapons outside the store and opened fire, said Sapiano.
"That is when Mr. Valentine made some terrible decisions," said Sapiano.
"Mr. Valentine fired his gun until it was empty. By all accounts the shootout was of a very short duration," said Crown attorney Maurice Gillizeau as he read out an agreed statement of facts.
The Creba family has consistently stayed away from trials related to the death of the teenager and was not in court on Tuesday. Creba was hit in the back by a single bullet as she crossed Yonge Street in downtown Toronto while out shopping with her sister.
The .357 Magnum fired by Valentine was never recovered. The forensic evidence was that a bullet recovered from the body of Creba was "consistent" with having been fired from the .357 Magnum, the court heard.
"While it is very likely that the bullet that killed Ms. Creba was fired from Mr. Valentine’s firearm, that determination cannot be made with certainty," said Gillizeau.
Valentine has been in custody for more than three years and may apply for parole in the fall of 2018.
McMahon stressed this is the earliest he is "eligible" for parole and it will be up to the parole board to decide when or if Valentine is released from prison.
The sentencing comes just weeks before Valentine and two other men were scheduled to go on trial, all on charges of second-degree murder.
There is a temporary pre-trial publication ban on the names of the other two defendants, imposed this fall by Superior Court Justice Gladys Pardu. Last month, four other adult defendants had their charges dismissed, after a pretrial ruling by Pardu.
A year ago, in the first trial related to the death of Creba, a jury convicted Jorrell Simpson-Rowe of second-degree murder.
He was found to have fired a 9mm handgun several times during the shootout and to have wounded three people.
Simpson-Rowe, who was 17 at the time of the shootout, was sentenced as an adult earlier this year and must spend at least seven years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
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