The disgraced former Merritt Mountie who is responsible for the 2008 death of 21-year-old Orion Hutchinson will serve one month house arrest and an 11-month curfew, court heard on Friday.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon said she made what many believe to be a light sentence based on former RCMP Cpl. Benjamin “Monty” Robinson’s status as a First Nations, a first-time offender and as an alcoholic.
The 11-month probation requires Robinson to be home by 9 p.m. and he is required to pay a $1,000 victim surcharge fee, as well as a requirement to write an apology letter to Hutchinson’s family.
Robinson didn’t help the injured Hutchinson, who was riding a motorbike in Delta at the time of the collision. Instead, he took his kids home, drank a couple of vodka shots and then returned to the scene.
The vodka was reportedly a move Robinson learned from his experience as a police officer to throw off the breathalyzer test and it is possibly what saved him from a more serious charge and conviction.
Hutchinson’s mother, Judith, told CBC News outside court that the sentence is something a child would endure for poor behavior.
“That sentence just felt like he was just being grounded,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a sentence to me.”
The family originally called for jail time. The maximum sentence for obstruction of justice is 10 years in prison. The Crown was seeking up to nine months in jail or a conditional sentence of between one year and 18 months.
“We are not out for blood,” Judith said. “We just wanted some kind of justice… This is very disappointing. It has been four years to come to this.”
During those four years, Robinson was still being paid by the RCMP and they never disclosed who was covering his legal costs.
Robinson is also expected to appear in court in April, 2013, to face perjury charges in the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died from Tasering at Vancouver International Airport in 2007.
Robinson quit the RCMP days before the sentencing.
He was most recently a member of the Richmond RCMP.
