'Quite simply awful' — Windsor man jailed for downtown robberies, assaults on homeless
Article content
A jail-bound young man was in tears as he hugged family and friends in an emotional goodbye in a Windsor courtroom on Monday.
At an earlier sentencing hearing in April, Jacob Yoell, 22, told the judge he was “scared” of going to jail. His lawyer had argued for a conditional sentence to be served in the community.
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
'Quite simply awful' — Windsor man jailed for downtown robberies, assaults on homeless Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
But jailtime was a must, said Ontario Court Justice Scott Pratt, who nevertheless praised Yoell for appearing to have turned his life around since leading a group of fellow young men in two brutal assaults and robberies of lone homeless men in the downtown three years ago.
“The facts of this case are quite simply awful,” said Pratt.
The offender, who was 18 at the time of the Aug. 27, 2022, attacks, told the court earlier they were “a dumb mistake,” but the judge said Monday that explanation “doesn’t come close to reflecting the gravity of the offence.”
The two randomly chosen men, said Pratt, were homeless and vulnerable — with “no shelter to keep them safe” — and their attackers were “ruthless … vicious and unrelenting.” He described Yoell as “the ringleader,” egging others to join in and continuing to strike blows even after his victim was on the ground, unresponsive.
Among the aggravating factors, Pratt said racism played at least a part in the offences — both victims were Black men — and that the separate assaults less than an hour apart continued “far beyond what was necessary” for the subsequent robbery of their targets.
Both attacks were filmed, posted to social media and widely viewed, including by those who were able to assist police in apprehending the participants. Yoell, who pleaded guilty last November to aggravated assault and robbery, was the last of those to be sentenced for what the judge described as “gang violence.”
The prosecution, describing the attacks as “abhorrent and grotesque,” had called for a jail sentence of up to 18 months followed by three years probation.
Justice Pratt handed Yoell a 12-month sentence to be followed by two years probation. He was also handed Yoell a 10-year weapons prohibition and ordered him to provide a blood sample for a police DNA databank.
Pratt pointed to a positive pre-sentence report of a young man with no other history of violence, strong family support and good prospects for the future.
“My sincere hope is that this ends a dark chapter in your life,” the judge told the slightly built young man after reading his sentencing decision.
The videos are “very concerning and very disturbing,” Yoell’s lawyer Jessica Grbevski told reporters after Monday’s verdict. But she said her client is a first-time offender, is remorseful and pleaded guilty and is “a different person” now.
I wanted to be cool, I guess
Justice Pratt said Yoell does not “currently pose a danger to society” but that a conditional term, the equivalent of house arrest, would not serve sentencing principles for such a crime. Grbevski said later that the jail sentence, and particularly the two years of probation to follow, are “not meant to punish him but to better his life.”
Two co-accused adults, Tyler Ducharme and Tyrell Patterson, were convicted and sentenced earlier on a single count each of aggravated assault.
Last Oct. 9, Ducharme was handed a nine-month conditional sentence to be served from home, but was given 233 days credit for 155 days already spent in actual pre-sentence custody.
Patterson on May 23, 2023, received a nine-month custodial sentence but received similar credit for pre-sentence custody.
At Yoell’s previous court appearance in April, the judge asked him why he did it.
“I couldn’t tell you,” the young criminal responded. “I wanted to be cool, I guess. I wanted to fit in.”
