Friday, December 9, 2011

Calvin Barry Defends Vakhtang Makhniashvili

Mariam Makhniashvili’s father sentenced to 6 years for stabbingsPublished On Thu Dec 8 2011

Niamh Scallan
Staff Reporter

The father of missing teen Mariam Makhniashvili has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to stabbing three people last year.

With credit for time served, Vakhtang Makhniashvili, 51, will spend another four years and 11 months behind bars.

“This is a very sad case. (He) is living every person’s nightmare, the loss of a child,” Justice Rebecca Rutherford said during the sentencing Thursday morning.

“His inability to cope appears to have led to the serious attacks” last year against neighbour Sean Ure and David and Delores Langer, the couple who bailed him out of jail, she said.

But the “surprise” knife attacks inflicted serious injuries, both physical and emotional, and warranted a stiff sentence, she added.

Makhniashvili, a Georgian immigrant who studied music, sociology and philosophy, stood in the prisoner’s box, his head bowed, as Rutherford read her sentence.

The family first made headlines in September 2009 when his daughter Mariam, 17, disappeared outside Forest Hill Collegiate.

Her whereabouts are still unknown.

Det. Sgt. Dan Nealon, lead investigator in the case, said police are looking into a reported sighting in Toronto earlier this week, reviewing surveillance video from the area.

Noting there is no “concrete evidence” the person was Mariam, Nealon said police have been flooded by hundreds of tips and reported sightings.

In October, a court-ordered psychiatric assessment revealed that Makhniashvili’s violent outbursts were related to a delusional disorder and were likely triggered by stress brought on by his daughter’s disappearance.

After Mariam vanished, he “became consumed” with trying to find her, scouring missing person’s websites for traces of his daughter, Rutherford said.

The family isolated themselves from friends and family, and Makhniashvili developed paranoid delusions about people around him, the judge added.

Crown Attorney John Cisorio argued for a prison term of eight to 10 years given the level of violence and the premeditated nature of the crimes.

Defence lawyer Calvin Barry said his client was suffering a mental illness at the time of the crime and has shown remorse. He called for one year and two weeks plus three years probation, on top of the 11 months spent in custody.

Rutherford said she accepted Makhniashvili’s remorse as genuine and that he suffered from a mental disorder which played a role in the attacks last year. But, she said, the “planned, unprovoked” violence involved in the attacks in his victims’ homes had to be taken into account.

Makhniashvili also faces a lifetime ban on prohibited weapons.

Outside the courthouse, Delores Langer rolled up her sleeve to show a jagged scar running up her left arm. She said the injury from Makhniashvili’s attack left her left hand paralyzed, but added that she empathized with his family.

“I feel his pain, he’s a parent . . . it’s tragic,” she said. “But I don’t condone violence. I hope he gets the help that he needs.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1098995--missing-girl-s-father-sentenced-to-6-years-for-stabbings