Crown wants 4-5 years for man who chopped roommate's ear

Article content

The Moncton Crown is seeking a lengthy prison term for a man who nearly chopped off his roommate’s ear during an altercation, while the defence is asking for leniency.

Defence lawyer Martin Goguen told the court on Thursday that his client deserves the chance to rehabilitate himself and become a productive member of society again.

“We can’t give up on him your honour,” said the lawyer, as his client watched from the prisoner’s box in provincial court.

Kyle Anthony Kennedy, 30, of Moncton, was convicted after trial in February of aggravated assault by wounding or maiming John Francis Murray on March 17, 2023, in Elgin, and assaulting Murray with bear spray and threatening to kill him in prior incidents. He was released just prior to Christmas but has since been arrested on other charges and is back in jail.

Sentencing arguments were made before Judge Troy Sweet on Thursday, with prosecutor Katie Myers asking for four to five years in prison. Kennedy has already served almost 17 months of his sentence in remand.

Goguen wants three years probation in addition to the time already spent in jail, which would see Kennedy released.

Myers’ rationale is that Kennedy has three prior convictions for weapon assaults and needs to be deterred from assaulting people in the future and having weapons on hand.

“The victim’s ear was cut in half, though they did manage to sew it back together,” she said.

Goguen argued for the lesser sentence because of the unique circumstances of the case. Murray started the altercation and Kennedy struck him with a machete in self-defence. In convicting him, the judge ruled the accused went too far in defending himself by using a machete and leaving Murray badly injured.

“Mr. Kennedy was in his room, minding his own business and the victim – John Murray – is the one that came in and commenced the transaction,” said Goguen.

Kennedy briefly addressed the court, saying he’s sorry for what happened and didn’t mean to hurt his roommate. He said he wants to get back to work and also work on his mental health.

Sweet is expected to impose sentence on May 24.

Court heard police were called to conduct a wellness check on Murray after 911 calls came from the house on Route 895 in Elgin. The operator briefly spoke to Murray, who had not been injured at that time, but who was quite intoxicated that night.

While en route, police heard further 911 calls suggested Murray was now injured and “bleeding out” and that Kennedy was a suspect. Sweet said when officers arrived they found Kennedy in the street with his dog and an empty sheath on his hip, with a machete in the nearby snow. Officers drew their guns and arrested Kennedy and rushed to the home where they found Murray with his ear barely attached to his head and blood flowing freely.

According to the officers who testified, Murray was intoxicated and seemed unphased by his condition, even declining medical assistance. When the ambulance eventually arrived he was taken to hospital and medical staff were able to reattach the ear.

Murray testified he had little recollection of the attack. He said it happened when he entered Kennedy’s room but it was dark and all he knew was he was struck with something.

According to the judge’s ruling, Kennedy argued self-defence. He told the court his roommate was intoxicated, possibly suicidal and possibly suffering from dementia. He said Murray had set up “booby traps” to protect himself, had made some kind of pressure cooker bombs, was “making weird traps” and had sharpened sticks into “vampire stakes.”

There had been ill will between the roommates over drug use and allegations of theft that led to physical altercations. Sweet described it as a “tumultuous situation.”

On the night of March 17, court heard, Murray entered Kennedy’s room and an argument began, possibly over him wanting alcohol from Kennedy. He lunged at Kennedy with a stake in his hand and another in his belt and a brief fight ensued.

Kennedy testified he had a machete in his room so he could cut wood for his woodstove, and when Murray hit him, he grabbed the sheathed machete and hit Murray on the head two or three times in an attempt to stun him and get away from him. Kennedy said he then left the house with his dog but when Murray later came outside to talk to him he was bleeding badly from the ear.

Kennedy said either Murray injured himself or the sheath had fallen off the machete while Kennedy was hitting Murray and the injury was inadvertent.

The judge believed Kennedy was justified in defending himself, but his response to the assault wasn’t reasonable.