A 21-year-old Nova Scotia man has been sentenced to almost five years in prison for his role in the kidnapping and torture of a 16-year-old boy.
“I feel myself that it wasn’t enough time for what he went through,” says the victim’s grandmother.
Robin Grant Myers of Porter’s Lake has been under house arrest since December and today he was sent back to prison for unlawful confinement and aggravated assault.
Judge Pam Williams told Myers his actions were “deplorable” and “disgusting” and said he made a very poor decision when he allowed the scenario to unfold on his property.
The court heard the victim was lured to an area in Porter’s Lake in November, 2011 where four people confronted him, struck him until he fell and then put him in the trunk of a car.
The group then drove the teen to a home in East Chezzetcook, rented by Myers’ mother, where they bound his wrists and ankles. The boy was kept in a shed on the property, where he was punched, kicked and burned with cigarettes and lighters. His life was also threatened and his head and eyebrows shaved.
The boy was tortured for 15 hours before he managed to escape.
“There was more than just physical harm in this particular offence,” says Crown attorney Scott Morrison. “There was degradation and humiliation that took place in the shed that night.”
“I didn’t really recognize him,” says the boy’s grandmother.
The court heard the teen was also urinated on and a corkscrew was used to penetrate his earlobe. A drumstick was also used to sexually assault him.
Myers admits to burning the teen’s arm with a cigarette and says he struck and punched him and shaved his hair.
The judge called the attack a “prolonged and violent continuous assault on a vulnerable person that took place in a mob, goon mentality situation.”
“He feels bad for what he did and what he allowed others to do and what he allowed to happen that night,” says defence lawyer Trevor McGuigan.
The court heard the attack was about payback and that the victim had been accused of stealing a car that belonged to one of the suspects.
Two other adult men and two youth have also been charged in the case.
Barry William Brugger, 22, of Halifax is awaiting trial on 14 charges while Scott Michael Murphy, 19, of West Chezzetcook pleaded guilty to kidnapping and aggravated assault and was sentenced to six years and 215 days in prison on top of his remand time.
A teenage brother and sister were each sentenced to eight months in custody, followed by four months of supervision and then two years of probation on charges of kidnapping and assault causing bodily harm.
The victim’s grandmother says her grandson is serving a sentence of his own after enduring a horrific night of torture.
“Maybe we won’t really find out all the details until years down the road because he’s the one who has to deal with it.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster
