ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Tara Bradbury
The Telegram
@tara_bradbury
Judge James Walsh was clear Friday: four men arrested in St. John’s last year and charged with identify theft offences were involved in organized crime, preying on innocent victims.
In the case of 27-year-old Toussaint Yenga-Yenga, there was an added serious element, given he had committed the offences while on release from an Alberta court to await trial for sexual assault.
“He has not testified on his own behalf,” Walsh noted, while handing down his sentence in provincial court. “I’m left with significant doubt about his remorse for his own involvement in this significantly organized scheme.”
Yenga-Yenga had a “callous disregard” for the judicial system, Walsh said, and a period of house arrest, as suggested by the defence, is not going to cut it as a sentence.
“A conditional sentence, while available, wouldn’t address the issues of denunciation and deterrence. It wouldn’t send a strong message to the public,” the judge said. “It would fail to deliver a strong message to the accused, who would be able to carry on almost as if life was normal and not really learn from his criminal errors that were committed while on a recognizance.”
Walsh opted to agree with the Crown’s suggestion of a five-month prison sentence for Yenga-Yenga, followed by 18 months of probation.
Yenga-Yenga, Jospeh Kalombo Ndonki, Doudou Kikewa Mpumudjie and Gustave Ngandu Kalombo were charged in February 2019 in connection with an operation that saw the personal information of about 24 people from different provinces used to create fake driver's licences, social insurance cards and citizenship cards. Those cards, some of which bore the photos of two of the men charged, had been used to open bank accounts and acquire credit cards, apply for funds, open cellphone contracts and buy at least one airline ticket.
Mpumudjie, described as the ringleader of the group, was sentenced to a 680-day jail term for identity theft, fraud and breaching court orders, while Ndonki, deemed to be a smaller player in the scheme, received a 360-day sentence.
Walsh agreed with prosecutor Richard Deveau and defence lawyer Karen Rehner that Yenga-Yenga was on the same level in the hieracrchy of the scheme as NDonki.
At the time Walsh sentenced Ndonki, police were still collecting evidence in the case and had not yet found a laptop computer that revealed there were more victims than previously thought.
“The facts that are before me, if they were fully known at the time Mr. Ndonki was sentenced, his sentenve would have likely been higher,” Walsh said.
Walsh noted Yenga-Yenga’s future in Canada could be compromised, since he is a permanent resident but not a Canadian citizen and may face deportation once his criminal matters are concluded.
Sheriffs took Yenga-Yenga into custody to begin serving his sentence, although he’ll be called in court again by video on July 30 to answer to unrelated charges of impaired driving, assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest.
