The 36-year-old accused Jermaine Never pleaded guilty to 22 offence, including human trafficking, assault, sexual assault, unlawful confinement, and unlawfully killing of a dog, which is contrary to s.445(1)(a) of the Criminal Code. Neverson had victimized 10 women over 8 years, with the dog-killing incident as part of a pattern of his violent behaviour. This incident occurred when a dog who belonged to one of his female victims had a bathroom accident on the floor, after which he became enraged and beat the dog to death. He then forced the female victim that owned the dog to bury them in a rural area.
The court emphasized Neverson’s extremely high moral culpability across all offences, including the killing of the dog. The act was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of exploitative conduct; his victims were vulnerable women due to their relative youth, poverty, drug addiction, homelessness, isolation, family breakdown, and their history of trauma that the accused intimidated and manipulated, trafficking them as sex trade workers, as well as abused them, kept their money, and left them with very little, treating them as slaved (para. 5). The court cited s. 718.03 of the Criminal Code, which requires that primary consideration be given to denunciation and deterrence when sentencing for offences involving cruelty to animals, and for the sexually exploitative violence exhibited by the accused.
While the dog-killing offence carried a maximum sentence of five years, the court imposed a global sentence for all 22 offences. The sentence for the animal cruelty charge was made concurrent with other sentences, which were reduced due to the treatment he received as a result of the deployment of the Institutional Crisis Intervention Team (“ICIT”) at Maplehurst Correctional Complex (“MCC”) in December 2023. The accused’s application for a stay of proceedings due to Charter violations experienced at this time was dismissed (para 71).
The animal cruelty offence reinforced the court’s conclusion that Neverson’s actions were calculated, prolonged, and intended to inflict psychological harm. It contributed to the court’s assessment that his moral blameworthiness was “as high as one could imagine.”
https://canlii.ca/t/kh744