NSR - Just sharing some good news! - SBB Digital Scrapbooking Forums | Scrapbook-Bytes

petulantfem · #1 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007

*Not Scrapping Related*

Hi girls, I just wanted to share some good news ...

Over two years after my brother and his room mate were attacked in a totally bizarre and brutal home invasion, all three attackers have been arrested and they are beginning the trials/sentencing. The first man plead guilty and was sentenced to FOURTEEN years in prison. We thought that was great, but yesterday, the second man plead guilty and accepted a NINETEEN year sentence without going to trial!! Only one more to go and all three will be sitting behind bars!!

Tracey R (Haley64) · #2 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007

Oh Wow..that is really good news!!

I know it has been a few years..but I hope that your brother & roomate are now finding peace! The violence in this world scares me so bad.

ang · #3 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007

Thank goodness they are going to have them behind bars. I hope your brother and his roomate are doing okay. Something like that has to be very traumatic.

ldtarbox · #4 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007

Wow! That is good news! I'm glad justice is finally being served!

Diamante · #5 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007

WOW!! That's great news! I'm so glad to hear they were caught and justice will be served!!

klggrant · #6 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007

Great news! Hope your brother and roommate are doing well.

petulantfem · #7 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007

My brother is doing fantastic now - especially since the news that these guys are off the streets. He doesn't talk about that night, so all that we know about it is what we hear from the news. He wouldn't let any of our family or his fiancee go to court with him when he had to give testimony about what happened. In that sense he is still very traumatized. He didn't even call us that night - we got a call from a friend of his who had driven by his house and had seen that it was taped off with yellow police tape. His friend didn't know what was going on either, he called us to find out because no one could contact my brother - his cell phone had also been stolen. We spent the better part of that day cold calling strangers with his room mates last name, looking for his family to find out what happened and where my brother was. He had just turned 26 when this all happened. I just keep thinking about how terrifying it must have been - just an ordinary night at home and the doorbell rings and then the next thing you know three strange men with bats and a rifle and a sword are forcing their way into the house and yelling at you to lie on the floor while they bind your wrists and ankles behind you. I think his heart must have just stopped - he thought he was going to die like that, and he had no idea who they were or why they were there. My brother saw the muzzle of the rifle and heard one of the guys say to another "Let's just kill them" before he lost consciousness. The men beat them both so badly that they both lost consciousness. I know that these guys stole, among other things, the phones in the house, so I don't even know how my brother called the police when he regained consciousness. Maybe he had to go to a neighbours house? I don't know - his face would have been a mess. He would have been a mess. But he was lucky - aside from losing consciousness, they only beat him. His face and chest were bruised and swollen and one of his teeth was cracked, but he was released from hospital that night. His room mate, however, suffered brain injuries. They beat him so badly that they punctured both of his lungs and his face was so damaged that he had to have seven metal plates put in during reconstructive surgery. They didn't think he would survive at first because of the swelling in his brain, and he was in a coma for a while. But he lived. They didn't think he would talk or walk, but he did, although his body is not fully recovered, and I don't think it ever will. But he just requalified for his driver's licence after taking the test twice. We even thought he would get his job back, but his company (they worked very hard with him) recently cancelled his retraining because he wasn't progressing. He has severe short term memory loss that will keep him on disability for life. He still doesn't remember the attack - he remembers nothing after Christmas the year before the attack. It was just so random and awful. I'm so glad that these guys are getting solid sentences for this!

Apparently these guys were looking for the home of a drug dealer - they wanted to steal drugs, money and guns. But they got the address wrong and went to my brother's house instead.
Nineteen years is the LONGEST sentence ever given for a home invasion in Canadian history!

DawnMarch · #8 (**permalink**) 10-20-2007

Ugh, what an awful, ugly, tragic story. I am glad that some small justice is being served, even though it still seems inadequate after they permanently damaged your brother's roommate (and probably your brother in some ways). Still, I hope it will help to bring peace to your families, and it is good news at the end of what has, I'm sure, been a very difficult journey.