London, Ontario, Canada

Friday, 1 June 2007

 

Bouncer's knife attacker gets jail sentence

Greg Lawson sees the reminder of the violence every time he looks in the mirror.

Two scars on his neck -- one where the knife went in and the other from the exploratory surgery after he was taken to hospital.

"Physically, I'm healed," the 24-year-old former bouncer at Jack's nightclub said outside the courtroom where his attacker, Corey Shankar, 23, was sentenced yesterday.

"I'm left with these marks, though, for the rest of my life.

"It's never going to leave me. I'll never be able to get over it," he said.

"But what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger -- I'll use it to push myself further."

Shankar, described by Middlesex Crown attorney Geoff Beasley during his sentencing hearing this month as "the poster boy" of criminal behaviour in London, was sentenced yesterday to 3 1/2 years for two counts of aggravated assault.

He was given credit on a two-for-one basis for nine months of the 2 1/2 years he has spent in the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, reducing his remaining sentence to two years less a day.

Shankar also was given the maximum probation period of three years.

He has already served his sentence for weapon-related charges for the small arsenal of weapons found in the trunk of a car he was driving a month before the stabbings.

He was out on bail on those charges when he stabbed Lawson and another bouncer during a scuffle inside Jack's, a nightclub.

Shankar's bail release raised the ire of London Police Chief Murray Faulkner. Lawson's father, John, agrees with the chief.

"To me the court system's falling down," he said. "I understand where Murray Faulkner is coming from when he gets so livid."

John Lawson questioned the credentials of justices of the peace who oversee most bail hearings.

"Obviously they're not listening to what the police are asking. They don't listen to what the Crown attorneys ask for," he said.

In her decision, Superior Court Justice Helen Rady noted Shankar's "very sad and tragic life."

She called Shankar's life "non-structured" and, without a lengthy probationary period with counselling, "I fear Mr. Shankar is destined to return to court."

The violent circumstances of the case -- brandishing a knife in a crowded nightclub, especially while on bail, was especially aggravating, Rady said.

Greg Lawson said his left arm saved him when he used it to ward off Shankar's blows.

Shankar tagged him first in the ribs, then reached up and stabbed him in the neck.

Doctors said if the knife had gone "millimetres" in either direction in his neck, Lawson could have died.

Both father and son said they hope Shankar gets the help he needs.

"I feel sorry for what he has had to endure in his life, but I don't feel sorry for him that he has to spend time in prison for what he has done," John Lawson said.

Shankar's lawyer, Gary Grill, who asked for time served, said he has recommended his client to appeal the sentence.

"Mr. Shankar has been in jail for two and a half years. He's crushed. He's a crushed man," he said.

Greg Lawson is considering returning to his dream of becoming a police officer.

He said becoming a victim of crime has opened his eyes and he wants "to help protect the people from people like Corey Shankar."