In Calgary courts: Motorist who dragged panhandler 200 metres placed on house arrest
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Dragging a panhandler who had grabbed onto his car window up to 200 metres won't mean jail for a Calgary motorist.
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Instead, Duba Wario was handed a two-years-less-a-day conditional sentence Monday to be served in the community, including 12 months of house arrest, on a charge of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
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Wario, 22, pleaded guilty to that charge in connection with the incident on May 26, 2023, which left Roan Campsall of Calgary suffering 'fairly superficial' wounds to her buttocks and feet after being dragged 150 to 200 metres — the length of two football fields.
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Justice Andrea Froese accepted a joint submission from Crown prosecutor Dominique Mathurin and defence lawyer Sarah Dover for the conditional sentence, which will also include 12 months on a nightly curfew for Wario.
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According to a statement of agreed facts read in by Mathurin, the victim, who has since died from unrelated reasons, was panhandling at the corner of Edmonton Trail and 16th Avenue N.E. when she approached Wario's Toyota Echo and had a brief conversation with him.
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Campsall, then 28, asked Wario for some change and he gave her about $2, the prosecutor said.
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A short time later she ran into her boyfriend, Dakota Gooder, and they began walking to 15th Avenue N.E., Mathurin told Froese.
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'The driver … pulled up close to them. She walked to the window and an argument broke out between the driver and the complainant,' she said.
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'The driver suddenly put the vehicle in motion as the complainant was holding onto the window of the vehicle. She repeatedly screamed at the driver to stop. She explained that she feared falling into the wheels of the vehicle,' Froese was told.
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'Eventually, the complainant being unable to maintain her grip fell on the ground.'
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Wario struck her hands several times during the incident and later told police he was afraid of Campsall.
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Gooder, who had chased after the car, picked up Campsall and took her to his home before calling 911.
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Mathurin said while Wario had an alcohol abuse problem, he wasn't intoxicated at the time.
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Dover said her client's relationship with his father deteriorated after he was charged and eventually led to him being kicked out of the residence and left homeless.
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Since that time he has managed to find a residence for young adults with addictions issues and is dealing with his alcohol problem, which came to a head in February when he fell asleep in a snowbank outside the facility.
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Wario suffered severe frostbite to his hands, feet and buttocks, injuries similar to those experienced by Campsall, Dover noted.
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Before sentencing, Wario offered an apology to both Campsall and her mother, whom Mathurin said was not pleased at the proposed resolution.
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'I know Roan's not here with us today, rest in peace to her … I just want to say I take full responsibility for my actions and I'll make sure it never happens again,' he said.
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