Man given 10 year sentence for unprovoked hammer attack on Winnipeg teen

A man convicted of an unprovoked hammer attack on a teenager who was getting pizza has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Jerry Kipling, who is 31, was found guilty earlier this year in a 2020 attack that left the 15-year-old boy with the hammer’s claw lodged in his skull and brain.

Provincial court Judge Murray Thompson said Kipling shows no insight, remorse or willingness to change.

Thompson says the consequences have been catastrophic for the teenage boy.

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He has lost the function of his right arm, has a stutter and must wear a helmet to protect his brain.

The teen’s victim impact statement, previously read into court, said he thought it was just going to be a regular day, but he ended up fighting for his life.

Crown lawyers argued that Kipling’s sentence must be long because he has a history of unexplainable brutal attacks.

The Crown had requested 12 years in prison and the defence had asked for eight years.

“The vicious and cowardly assault on (the teenage boy) was not an aberration,” said Crown prosecutor Ari Milo during a June hearing in provincial court.

“This is who Jerry Kipling is — a violent unrepentant offender at the highest level of dangerousness.”

Court heard the teen was ordering pizza slices in a shop in May 2020 and had a brief conversation with a man in a blue shirt. An agreed statement of facts said an employee saw the teen and the man getting along as the man showed the boy items in his backpack.

But when the teen left the restaurant, it said, the man followed him and hit him in the head with the hammer claw.

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Court heard that Kipling didn’t help the boy. He grabbed the hammer’s handle, which had broken off, and left. The boy spent weeks in hospital and will require more surgeries.

Family members told court the teenager is lonely and depressed, and the whole family has become fearful since the violent attack.

When Kipling was given an opportunity to address court in the summer, he did not express remorse. Instead, he argued the sentences being proposed are far too long.

“This isn’t a murder case, for one,” Kipling said. “There’s guys that aren’t even getting that long for murder cases.”