Attacker's appeal rejected

B.C.’s top court has rejected the appeal of a man convicted of uttering threats, using an imitation firearm, robbery and assault with a weapon, in machete attacks on three strangers on Vancouver’s Granville Street in late 2021.

Cruz Thomas Joseph was sentenced to seven years in prison, a sentence he appealed suggesting concurrent sentences might have been in order. He also argued issues of time served before sentencing and issues around his criminal record as appeal concerns.

However, Court of Appeal of B.C. Justice Gail Dickson, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Jennifer Oulton made no errors in her May 3, 2023 sentencing decision.

Joseph was initially charged with two counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm, robbery, and possession of a dangerous weapon in connection with the attacks.

Joseph was credited with 3.5 years for time spent in custody before sentencing and has 3.5 years left to serve.

“These offences were random violent attacks on strangers,” said Oulton, adding such cases leave the community feeling unsafe.

She noted: “He said, 'I’m sorry,' and I believe him to be sincere.”

In October 2021, Joseph threatened people in a car while pointing an imitation gun.

On Dec. 24, 2021, Joseph confronted a man on Granville Street and told him he would decapitate him if he didn’t drop his bag. The man dropped his bag and ran, but not until after he was struck with the flat side of a machete, which the judge says continues to experience soreness. 

On Dec. 31, 2021, Joseph approached another man, alleging the person had slashed him. Soon after, he attacked him with the machete, leaving an injury requiring stitches.

Not long after, Joseph attacked a third man near Granville and Nelson streets, leaving him bleeding profusely from a head laceration. That man has had to move from downtown Vancouver as he no longer feels safe, Oulton said. She added he has insomnia, nightmares and memory problems.

Oulton said Joseph had a lengthy history of mental health issues and drug abuse. She said he had been offered treatment options and housing but had been unwilling to accept them.

Joseph has served jail time in the past, Oulton said, noting crimes such as assault, robbery, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon.

The appeal

Joseph appealed the global sentence of seven years imprisonment, minus time spent in custody awaiting the outcome of the trial.

He argued that the sentencing judge erred in failing to treat the time he spent in pre-trial COVID-19-related medical isolation as a mitigating factor.

He said she also erred in failing to impose concurrent sentences for several of the offences, and in treating his prior criminal record as a reason for imposing consecutive, rather than concurrent, sentences.

The appeal court, however, rejected all of those arguments.

In a Nov. 5 decision released Nov. 25, Dickson said Oulton “plainly appreciated the nature of his request on the COVID-19 issue, namely, that she should take his medical isolation for pandemic-related reasons into account as a mitigating factor in crafting his sentence.”

Meanwhile, Dickson didn't find an error in Oulton’s decision to impose consecutive sentences.

“In determining that consecutive sentences were warranted and appropriate, the judge focused on the salient fact that the offences were committed on different days against different victims and involved different acts of violence,” Dickson wrote. “Her consideration of Mr. Joseph’s criminal record related to her determination of the appropriate sentence overall.”