Ray Newman smiled when the Crown prosecutor first brought up the suggestion of jail time in court Wednesday afternoon.
As Newman sat in the dock, Shawn Patten suggested a 90-day sentence in Her Majesty’s Penitentiary for assaulting his ex-girlfriend at his home last fall. Newman’s lawyer, Brian Wentzell, suggested a 90-day sentence of house arrest instead, stressing the minor nature of the woman’s injuries, Newman’s lack of criminal record, and arguing that his embarrassment over the significant media coverage of the case was a punishment in itself.
“I would suggest there’s not a person on the Northeast Avalon who doesn’t know about this case, including in Mr. Newman’s own neighbourhood,” Wentzel said, calling the news coverage a “continual rubbing of salt in the wound.”
“It’s not something where Mr. Newman is going to melt away into the background; where he could be in the lineup at the grocery store and not be recognized,” Wentzel continued, adding Newman had been fired from his job after his boss became aware of the charge, and has been unable to find employment since. “Mr. Newman will continue to deal with the embarrassment of the matter every time he steps out the door.”
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When given the opportunity to address the court, Newman’s words were few.
“I’d like to apologize to the court and to my family,” he said. “This was just as much stress on them as it was on me and I wish (the victim) nothing but the best in the future.”
In the end, Newman left the courtroom in handcuffs, having been sentenced to 60 days in jail by Judge David Orr, who told him that the fact he had not pleaded guilty and had taken no responsibility for the assault took the consideration of house arrest off the table.
Newman’s ex-girlfriend testified during his trial the pair had been drinking and began arguing on the way back to his Paradise home after a night out. She said Newman had punched her, tried to drag her out of the house by the leg and put his hands around her neck and choked her until she blacked out. She was able to get a breath of air, she said, and punched him in the nose, causing it to bleed.
The woman said she then drove to the police station in Mount Pearl but found nobody there, so she returned to the house and slept in the vehicle in the driveway.
Forensic photos of the woman’s injuries showed bruising and swelling around her eye, marks on her cheek and her neck, vertical scratches on the centre of her chest and abrasions on her knee.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Patten, the woman said she is still suffering emotionally from the assault. She has gone from strong and independent, she wrote, to frightened and feeling lost. She said she still has a throbbing pain in her cheek from her injuries.
When it was his turn on the stand, Newman told the court he hadn’t touched the woman and she may have been injured from falling off the bed. “I never laid a hand on any woman in my whole life. Not only (the complainant), any woman,” he said.
Earlier this month Orr convicted Newman of assaulting the woman but acquitted him of choking her since there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support the charge.
In 2012, Newman was acquitted of murdering his estranged wife, Chrissy Predham-Newman, in her Airport Heights apartment five years earlier. During his murder trial, a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge ruled to exclude a portion of the evidence presented by police, saying officers had made a mistake by not reading Newman his rights until 30 minutes into their interview with him, at which point he had already told him he had been at Predham-Newman’s apartment the day she died. Newman’s acquittal was upheld upon appeal.
Predham-Newman’s family sat in the courtroom every time Newman’s newest matter was called, and told reporters after court was adjourned Wednesday they were pleased he was going to jail but more pleased with the fact he had been found guilty.
“The real victory was a couple weeks ago when it was recognized that he was an abuser, he was a woman-beater,” said Predham-Newman’s uncle, Bruce Harvey, who has been calling for the courts and society in general to take violence against women more seriously. “The courts maybe, hopefully, are starting to pick up on this stuff and say it’s not acceptable."
In terms of Newman’s embarrassment, Harvey said it was his own fault.
As Newman was escorted past him on his way to the lockup, Harvey told him, “Have a good summer.”
“Good for him,” he later elaborated. “He’s got a good seat for the Regatta.”
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Earlier story
Ray Newman has been sentenced to 60 days in jail.
He will be on probation for 12 months after that.
Earlier this month, Newman was found guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend last fall.
The 40-year-old had pleaded not guilty to assaulting and choking his ex-girlfriend during an argument at his Paradise home last September. The pair was admittedly drunk and had begun arguing on the way home, continuing the argument inside the house.
The woman testified Newman had punched her, tried to drag her out of the house by the leg and put his hands around her neck and choked her until she blacked out. She was able to get a breath of air, she said, and punched him in the nose, causing it to bleed.
The woman said she then drove to the police station in Mount Pearl, but found nobody there, so she returned to the house and slept in the vehicle in the driveway.
The Crown prosecutor, Shawn Patten, had argued for a 90-day sentence, while Newman's lawyer wanted 90 days of house arrest.
Defence lawyer Brian Wentzel stressed numerous times the media attention on the case was causing Newman significant embarrassment and would be "a continual rubbing of salt in the wounds."
At trial, Newman insisted, “I never laid a hand on any woman in my whole life. Not only (the complainant), any woman.”
Newman was acquitted of murdering his late ex-wife Chrissy Predham Newman in 2012.
Predham Newman's family was in court again Wednesday, as they have been at every one of Newman's appearances on the assault matter.
Her uncle, Bruce Harvey, told reporters after court he was happy to see Newman get jail time and hopes that the sentence sets a precedent for cases of violence against women.
More to come.