Brampton man who brutally attacked five-year-old to ‘exact revenge’ on ex-girlfriend sentenced to life in prison: judge

Dyon Smart, a suspect accused of attempted murder and aggravated assault, appears in court on July 19, 2018. (Pam Davies)

Warning: Story contains graphic details of violence against a young child

A Brampton man who tried to “exact his revenge” on an ex-girlfriend by attempting to beat her five-year-old son to death has been sentenced to life in prison for the “extraordinarily brutal” 2018 attack, a judge has ruled.

Dyon Smart, 35, was previously found guilty of attempted murder for the heinous assault, which took place on the morning of July 19, 2018.

Shortly after 5 a.m. that day, Smart lured the child, who was wearing only pajamas and running shoes, out of his bed and into a wooded area. It was there, Superior Court Justice James Stribopoulos said, that Smart repeatedly stomped on the little boy’s face, head, and torso.

At some point during the “relentless attack,” Smart used a rope-like cloth to try to asphyxiate the boy, identified only as D due to a publication ban.

“Confident that he had killed D, Mr. Smart left the little boy’s seemingly lifeless body concealed in an area shrouded by trees and bushes,” Stribopoulos wrote in his recently released reasons for sentence.

He attempted to cover up the “ghastly crime” back at the boy’s home, the judge said, and the child was discovered by a police officer with the canine unit a couple of hours later.

D was rushed to a local hospital and later transferred to SickKids for further treatment.

The judge noted that D suffered bleeding around his brain, a fractured jaw, rib fractures, and tears and bruising to his liver that are typically consistent with “multi-storey falls, significant motor vehicle collisions, and other high-velocity traumatic events.”

While he survived the assault, the boy endured a long road to recovery, having to learn how to walk and talk again.

Stribopoulos called the crime “entirely senseless and horrific.”

According to court documents, Smart met the boy’s mother in the summer of 2016. The two developed a romantic relationship and at one point, became engaged.

Smart and D developed “a close bond,” over the course of the relationship and D came to see Mr. Smart as his “stepdad,” the judge wrote.

According to the court documents, Smart’s drug use created problems in the relationship, which eventually ended in December 2017.

‘Took pity on him’

Despite this, Smart would still spend time with D and his mother at their home in Brampton.

In July 2018, Smart, who was out on bail and was supposed to be residing with a surety, had nowhere to live and D’s mother agreed to let Smart stay with her until the beginning of August. She permitted this on the condition that he sleep in the basement and not do drugs, the judge said.

When she discovered that he was in fact doing drugs, the judge said, D’s mother asked Smart to leave.

She later found him camping in her backyard on July 16, Smart’s birthday. She “took pity on him,” Stribopoulos said, and reluctantly agreed to let him sleep in the basement for a few days, at which point he said he’d have somewhere else to stay.

After another argument in the early morning hours of July 19, Smart suggested that the two have sex, an advance that was rebuffed by D’s mother.

“Mr. Smart, in a state of extreme anger at her for rejecting him yet again and for insisting that he leave, decided to exact his revenge on her by killing the person she loved most in the world, her son,” the judge wrote.

While D’s mother slept, Smart “crept upstairs and entered D’s bedroom” before convincing the boy to follow him.

“Given their close bond, D unreservedly trusted Mr. Smart and would have willingly gone with him,” the judge noted.

At some point prior to the attack, D likely realized that Smart’s intentions were “malevolent,” Stribopoulos said. That morning, a neighbour overheard D screaming “mommy, mommy, mommy.”

Smart and D walked about 150 metres from the townhouse to a wooded area next to a rail line.

“In that isolated location, Mr. Smart brutally assaulted D. At the time, D was only five years old and weighed just less than 50 pounds,” the judge wrote.

“Due to the nature and extent of D’s injuries, it is apparent that Mr. Smart subjected him to a relentless beating. After D was utterly helpless and on the ground, Mr. Smart repeatedly stomped on his face, head, and torso.”

He left the boy for dead and returned to the townhouse to clean up, Stribopoulos said. He attempted to use the kitchen sink to clean the running shoes that he wore to stomp on the little boy, the court documents note.

At around 6 a.m., D’s mother went to check on her son in his bedroom only to discover that he was missing.

When the panicked mom began searching the house for him, Smart, the judge said, was on the living room couch, apparently asleep. He acted surprised when she told him the boy was missing.

The mother’s frantic screams caught the attention of neighbours, who notified police. Smart did not join the search for the missing boy. D was located about an hour later by police and rushed to hospital for treatment.

Police “concluded relatively quickly” that Smart was the person responsible for the crime and he was arrested at Brampton Civic Hospital later that morning, the judge said.

After being transferred to SickKids, D received treatment from a team of 17 different specialists and underwent surgery to repair his jaw and remove several broken teeth.

Due to the serious brain injury he suffered, he spent nearly three months at Holland Bloorview Rehabilitation Hospital trying to relearn how to walk and talk. Even after he was discharged, he struggled with both, the judge said.

‘Barbarous crime’

“Mr. Smart’s crime profoundly impacted D’s young life. Although he thankfully does not remember the events and has now fully recovered from his physical injuries, the road to recovery for him was very long and extraordinarily challenging,” Stribopoulos wrote.

“Mr. Smart’s incomprehensible crime has had a profoundly negative impact on D and his entire family.”

The judge noted that Smart has “numerous prior convictions for crimes of violence.”

“He has acted out violently throughout much of his life, beginning in his youth,” Stribopoulos said.

“His propensity for violence is unabated, even when subject to the structure and close supervision provided within a custodial setting.”

While the Crown applied to have Smart designated as a dangerous offender, that request was denied, with the judge suggesting that the prosecution did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Smart met the criteria.

Stribopoulos added that despite this, Smart “has much work to do” before he is ever given a chance to return to the community.

“It is highly unlikely that Mr. Smart will have a realistic chance of being granted parole before he has completed a considerable amount of programming to address the factors contributing to his violent behaviour,” the judge continued.

The judge called the prospect of his parole “extraordinary unlikely” until he no longer poses a “high risk of reoffending.”

“The risk that he could seriously injure or kill another person in the future seems very real indeed,” Stribopoulos said.

The defence had argued that a 16 to 18-year prison sentence would be appropriate given the circumstances. When factoring in pre-sentence custody and the “harsh conditions” endured while incarcerated, the defence recommended a sentence of four-and-a-half years.

“Mr. Smart’s attempt to murder D was of an extraordinarily brutal nature. It was a premeditated crime committed against an exceptionally vulnerable victim. And, as the many significant aggravating factors demonstrate, Mr. Smart bears a very high degree of responsibility for committing what was an entirely senseless and horrific crime,” the judge wrote in his reasons for sentence.

“Only a sentence of life imprisonment would be proportionate to the gravity of Mr. Smart’s barbarous crime and his degree of responsibility in its commission.”