A Vanderhoof man who opened fire at the community’s RCMP detachment three years ago had his jail sentence cut in half by the BC Court of Appeal.
Last year, Paul Nicholas Russell was given ten years in prison – however, that got reduced to five Justice Janet Wittingham ruled the judge who initially put him behind bars failed to take his mental illness into consideration.
Wittingham noted the previous judge, Francesca Marzani had four evidence pieces to determine a clear link between Russell’s well-known mental health issues and the shooting.
The news is a tough blow for National Police Federation President Brian Sauve who is frustrated by the final outcome.
“It is a slap in the face but we will move forward and as Mr. Russell I believe will be eligible for parole imminently the rest of sentence will be on parole with what we hope is strict conditions and I am sure our members will be paying attention to those conditions so he doesn’t violate.”
“This isn’t really a failure on the police, it is a failure of the health care system and lack of successive investments from previous governments.”
He adds while the reduced sentencing feels like a ‘slap in the face’ his members were even more gutted that Russell was not convicted of attempted murder.
“That was the first part of disappointment from the membership as well as probably the employees and some of the citizens that were actually inside the detachment when the gunshots rang out. I don’t think any average Canadian expects to be fired upon when they are inside a police station.”
“Our members will live with it and they are globally disappointed in the fact that the person that did shoot at them and at civilians and employees who were going about their day-to-day jobs in support of the safety of Vanderhoof and surrounding communities but we live with appellant court decisions everyday. Police officers enforce laws that are guided by the appellant courts or guided by the Supreme Court of Canada and sometimes we may disagree personally with them but our professional stature and dedication to public safety of Canadians and British Columbia is to enforce the rules we are given.”
Now that the final verdict has been made by BC’s highest court, Sauve stated the shooting highlighted the need for more mental health care supports in the province as well as much broader investments into public safety on a Canada-wide scale.
“The lesson coming out of this for any government for who wins the election eventually, is that you need some serious investment into those support systems that can keep Canadians from falling into these psychotic episodes and doing silly or asinine things like opening fire on a police station.”
Sauve added the appeal means Russell will likely qualify for parole within the next two years.
A link to the report can be found here.
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