A Toronto lawyer, who was filmed swinging a baseball bat at a St. Thomas family while calling them terrorists, will not be going to jail.
Mark Phillips, 37, received a conditional discharge with three years probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to one count of assault causing bodily harm in a St. Thomas court. He will also have to perform 240 hours of community service, undergo counselling, and cannot use any non-prescription drugs -- including marijuana, even when it becomes legal.
Phillips was originally charged with aggravated assault following the incident last December in the Elgin Mall parking lot but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence.
"I'm very, very sorry as to what happened," Phillips told the court prior to his sentencing.
The video, posted to YouTube, quickly drew international attention. In it Phillips is seen pointing at the family and shouting "terrorists" and "ISIS" before striking one of the family members with an aluminum bat. Sergio Estepa suffered a cracked rib and extensive bruising in the attack. The Colombian immigrant and his family had been speaking Spanish moments before Phillips got out of his white BMW.
Steven Sturka, Mark Phillips and co-defence counsel
Phillips' defence lawyer Steven Sturka presented a psychiatrist report that maintains the personal injury lawyer was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis at the time of the incident. The report stated that Phillips had smoked three or four joints before driving to St. Thomas. Along the way, he got into arguments with a construction worker in Richmond Hill and a Tim Hortons manager in Woodstock. In the 36 hours leading up to the attack, Phillips believed he was being targeted and assaulted by strangers, many of them from the Muslim faith, psychiatrist Dr. Peter Collins wrote.
"Phillips had no insight that his marijuana use was affecting his mental state," Collins stated in the report, which chalked the incident up to delusions from the high THC level in pot.
Once Phillips stopped using the drug his thoughts became clear, Collins concluded.
Even Phillips parents reported a "transformation " in their son's behaviour once he stopped using marijuana.
Both Sturka and Crown Attorney Lisa Defoe agreed the attack was not a hate crime and did not warrant any jail time on top of the 11 days Phillips spent awaiting bail at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre.
Defoe had argued for a suspended sentence, which would have left Phillips with a criminal record.
In a letter written by Phillips to the Estepa family roughly a month after the attack, which was read in court Tuesday, he stated "what I did was irrational, irresponsible, and deeply unacceptable. I'm horrified, embarrassed, and deeply humiliated."
Nick Estepa, with his parents Sergio Estepa and Mari Zambrano, displays a poster he created as part of his victim impact statement.
Prior to the sentencing, court heard victim impact statements from the family. They spoke of nightmares and fear they have endured since the incident.
"Hearing someone say that to you, in a parking lot, with a bat, feels almost like a horror movie," said 13-year-old Nick Estepa. "Seeing my dad get beaten with a baseball bat just took my heart away."
He told the court before the attack he was a "nobody" in the town but is now known as the "victim of the bat attack."
"I don't want to be remembered that way," he said.
In handing down his decision, Justice John Skowronski thanked the Estepa family for their courage.
“Canada is a country of immigrants with different names, accents, and skin colours," said Skowronski. "That’s what built Canada, why people want to come here, why people who are here are proud to be here. Events like this take the shine off that."
He went on to assure the Estepa family that what took place in that parking lot was not normal.
"This is an aberration that took place because of a mental illness," said Skowronski.
Speaking to reporters outside of the courthouse Nick Estepa, who will turn 14 next week, said the family is happy the legal proceedings are now over.
"We can move on with our lives and things can return almost back to normal," he said. "I remember before all of this happened, I could go to the park, I could hang out with friends, and stay out until maybe 11pm but now it is too different. My parents are more on edge, same with me. Sometimes I don't feel safe."
Meanwhile, Sturka said he hopes the case will give Canadians considering marijuana use pause.
"This was a discovery for me as well I had no idea about the effects of cannabis in relation to psychosis and schizophrenia," said Sturka. "This was certainly an eye opener for me as a lawyer and I am sure it will be for a lot of people."
Warning: the video, posted to Twitter, contains profane language.
— Mari UX (@Mari__ux) December 8, 2017
