A lawyer for a Hamilton, Ont., man accused of home-invasion style robberies has asked the judge for a more lenient sentence because his client was shot during one of his crimes.
Robert Collingwood, 26, was in the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Ont., on May 29 for sentencing arguments related to crimes committed in the area in 2018.
Collingwood also pleaded guilty to charges related to incidents in Hamilton, including the 2017 break-and-enter that left him with gunshot wounds.
Defence lawyer Ian Bingham told presiding Judge Fergus O’Donnell that a five-year sentence, rather than the seven-year sentence the Crown was pursuing, would be more appropriate.
“My submission is being shot at point-blank range with a firearm serves to address the sentencing principles of denunciation and deterrence under the Criminal Code,” Bingham said to CTVNews.ca in an email.
Bingham also said that Collingwood was “freeing up court time” by “pleading to many matters at once” and that “5 years is reasonable given his criminal antecedence.”
The judge is expected to make his decision on July 10.
