Житель Вудстока приговорен к неопределенному сроку за попытку убийства и изнасилование в Гамильтоне

Dangerous offender to be imprisoned indefinitely after attempted murder of Hamilton woman Peter Pasco, 51, previously found guilty of strangling, robbing sex worker WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it. A Woodstock man will be imprisoned indefinitely after an Ontario judge decided he poses "too great a risk" to ever be unsupervised in the community. On July 3 in Hamilton, Superior Court Justice John Krawchenko sentenced Peter Pasco, 51, to an indeterminate sentence for attempting to kill a Hamilton woman in 2021. CBC Hamilton listened to a court recording of Krawchenko reading his decision. "[Pasco's] history shows that when not under close supervision and active treatment, bad things happen and would very likely happen again," Krawchenko said. "The only disposition that will adequately protect society is that you be sentenced to an indeterminate sentence," he told Pasco. Pasco attacked, robbed Hamilton woman in 2021 In 2024, the judge found Pasco guilty of aggravated sexual assault and attempted murder of a Hamilton woman in her 40s. The court heard Pasco had been a client of the woman for about seven years. On Oct. 5, 2021, he paid her for a session and told her he wanted to cuddle. Then, Pasco wrapped his arms and legs around the woman, restraining and strangling her until she fell unconscious. "The struggle was violent," Krawchenko said, leaving the woman with multiple injuries, including ruptured eardrums. "Medical evidence established that her life was in danger." Pasco left the woman's residence, taking the $120 he paid her. Following Krawchenko's 2024 finding of guilt, the Crown applied to have Pasco designated a dangerous offender, giving the judge the option to sentence him to indefinite imprisonment under federal law. Defence argued indefinite imprisonment unnecessary In July, Krawchenko said the Crown needed to prove Pasco had displayed a pattern of repetitive behaviour and a likelihood of killing, hurting or causing severe psychological damage to someone. Alternatively, the Crown could prove Pasco displayed a persistent pattern of dangerous behaviour and indifference to consequences. Ultimately, the judge said he was convinced on both points. In his decision, Krawchenko recounted details from a March hearing in which a doctor who assessed Pasco testified as an expert witness, and the Crown argued in favour of the dangerous offender designation. Pasco's defence argued that while there was a substantial risk he would reoffend, his risk of serious reoffence could be controlled through supervision and treatment, with a finite sentence. Man has history of 'gratuitous violence' toward women Krawchenko also summarized findings from doctors who examined Pasco following earlier offences. The judge said that in 1998, Pasco was found guilty and served four years for robberies in which two women suffered serious injuries, including an 82-year-old he said struggled to form thoughts after the attack. He was paroled in 2000 and relapsed into drug use. In 2003, Krawchenko said, Pasco served 12 years for robbery and aggravated assault after he choked a 37-year-old, threw her down stairs and beat her with a hammer, causing permanent nerve damage. Pasco was released in 2010 and worked several jobs, reporting he abstained from drugs until 2021 when stress at work led him to use cocaine, the judge said. Despite counseling through benefits at his job, Pasco got into trouble at work, fell into debt and continued to use drugs, the judge said. Around that time, Pasco also entered into a peace bond for criminal harassment of two Hamilton women, the judge noted. He said even though there was not a legal finding of guilt, that showed Pasco may have been exhibiting problematic behavior toward women between the most recent assaults. Despite receiving "significant" mental health treatment while incarcerated, Pasco repeatedly failed to "restrain himself from his violent impulses" and targeted women with "escalating levels of gratuitous violence," the judge said. Judge says treatment in community too great a risk Doctors diagnosed Pasco with antisocial personality disorder, substance use disorder, bipolar disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Krawchenko said. One doctor found Pasco was at a high risk of reoffending and said he felt no assurance treatments would result in that changing. He said Pasco seemed able to convince others he was internalizing treatment when he really wasn't. When Pasco was living in the community, Krawchenko said, evidence showed it took "very little" to destabilize him. He decided there was "no reasonable possibility of an eventual control of the risk posed by Mr. Pasco in the community through treatment and supervision. These routes have been attempted and have failed." If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database. With files from Samantha Beattie