A Nanaimo man involved in a December 2015 brawl outside the Cactus Club Café in Nanaimo won’t serve any jail time.
Sunjay Sharma, 30, was charged with one count of aggravated assault and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced at court in Nanaimo last Tuesday.
Details of the early-morning Dec. 6, 2015 incident were recounted at the hearing. Sharma was with a group of 14 people at the north-end restaurant for a birthday. A verbal altercation had occurred earlier between Tyler O’Gorman and Sean Devellano and Sharma and Hamzah Subhan Khan, but the incident resolved itself and the two groups continued on with their nights.
Later, restaurant management had to physically remove O’Gorman as he was said to be drunk and out of control. Khan and Sharma were outside having a cigarette. According to witnesses, O’Gorman began name-calling and hurling insults and another exchange took place.
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Civil litigation is currently taking place between O’Gorman and Khan and Brett Webber, Crown counsel, said he wouldn’t get into detail about the injuries.
There was a pre-sentence report and Judge Ronald Lamperson said by pleading guilty, Sharma shows that he is taking responsibility for his actions and sorry for what he did.
Webber and Vincent Rizzuto, Sharma’s legal counsel, made a joint submission and Lamperson sentenced Sharma to a conditional discharge, where Sharma will not receive a record if he abides by conditions.
Lamperson said the conditional discharge was appropriate, in Sharma’s best interests and not contrary to public interest.
Sharma is on probation for 12 months and must not have contact with Devellano, O’Gorman or O’Gorman’s wife except via legal counsel. He will be forbidden from attending the Cactus Club in Nanaimo, possess any weapons (as defined by Section 2 of the Criminal Code), and will have to perform 25 hours of community service in the first nine months of the order.
Khan received 18 months’ probation last year for his part in the incident, but was sentenced to two years in prison in January for illegally making or having explosives.
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