Angry in the Great White North

Constable Robert Plunkett, father of three, was killed, dragged by a car allegedly being driven by Nadim Jiwa. Jiwa is facing charges of manslaughter. Police maintain that when Plunkett tried to arrest Jiwa while Jiwa was removing an airbag from a stolen car, Jiwa tried to drive away. Throwing the car into reverse, Jiwa crushed Plunkett against a tree, but was arrested almost immediately by other officers on the scene.

Jiwa has a history going back four years of wheeling and dealing, with a particular interest in cars, and had a reputation of being a person who dealt in bad faith.

But Nadeem Jiwa also has a criminal record, much more recent:

[Nadeem Jiwa] was previously arrested April 14 in Scarborough and charged with possession of break-in tools, mischief and theft. He is to appear in court Thursday in that case.

We can choose to believe that Nadeem Jiwa kept his nose clean until a mere one week before he was to appear on the theft charges.

Or we can choose to believe he almost immediately fell back into a pattern of behaviour related to the theft charges, a course of action that had him cross paths with Robert Plunkett, who was investigating over 40 airbag thefts in the Markham area.

Until the evidence is tested in court, this is just speculation.

But it is clear that had Jiwa's case been dealt with soon after his April 14 arrest, it is likely he would not be facing charges of manslaughter in the death of a police officer.

And Robert Plunkett would probably be alive today.

Nadeem Jiwa was also apparently associating with criminal elements leading up to the night Robert Plunkett was killed:

Baseer Mohammed Yousaf-Zai, 23, arrested with Jiwa on Thursday, was charged with possessing stolen property and breaching a court order.

In March, Yousaf-Zai and another man were charged with possessing break-in tools and stolen property and were released on conditions -- conditions which Yousaf-Zai was alleged to have violated in June. He was released on those charges in July and was to appear in court on Oct. 3.

Yousaf-Zai was also convicted of counterfeiting in 2003.

So Yousaf-Zai was on bail, broke the conditions of his bail, was let out again despite his inability to hold to his conditions, and now is alleged to have played a key role in the death of Robert Plunkett.

Consider the reason to offer a defendent bail:

Bail can be crucial to the defence of a criminal charge. Without it, an accused person may lose his job and the income needed to fund a defence.

Often custody makes it more difficult for an accused to participate in preparing his or her defence. Custody also prevents the accused from pursuing rehabilitation that can help to reduce sentence if a finding of guilt is made.

Did Nadeem Jiwa and Baseer Mohammed Yousaf-Zai seek bail so that they could sell stolen airbags as a means of funding their legal fight aginst the earlier theft charges?

That's absurd, of course. But so is the gall of seeking bail again:

The two accused appeared briefly in Newmarket court yesterday and were remanded in custody until next Wednesday, when it's expected both of their lawyers will seek bail.

I can't imagine any judge daring to give this pair bail, given the death of a police officer and the history both defendents have with ignoring their bail conditions.

But then who knows? Yousaf-Zai was released after breaking bail conditions the first time around.

Just remember, though, that pre-sentence custody counts towards the final sentence. Let's say Suspect A spends a year in custody during the course of a trial. He is found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison. But the year spent in jail is credited against the sentence, and traditionally at a two-to-one ratio, so two years are knocked off the sentence. That means Suspect A (now Prisoner A) is already two years into a ten year sentence on the day his sentence is handed down. That means he is two years closer to parole.

And that two-to-one credit can grow to three-to-one or more, if the judge decides that pre-sentencing custoday was particularly difficult for the prisoner.

So if Nadeem Jiwa is denied bail, and spends the time answering to whatever charges are laid concerning the death of Robert Plunkett in custody, then any sentence he receives will be significantly reduced.

Lorrie Goldstein makes many of the same points, especially with regards to pre-sentencing detention.

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