22-month sentence for man who pushed Edmonton senior onto LRT tracks

The man who pushed an Edmonton hospital worker onto LRT tracks last year will spend another 80 days in custody.

Kendall Raine, 21, was sentenced to 22 months on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to attacking Sharda Naidu Devi.

Raine pushed the then 78-year-old onto the tracks at Health Sciences/Jubilee LRT station on April 25, 2022.

An oncoming train was stopped by the operator before hitting Devi, but she was so severely injured that her family worried her leg might have to be amputated.

She has since filed a lawsuit against the city and the Edmonton Transit Service.

During Raine's trial in December, prosecutors told the court he attacked Devi because she was looking at him and "pissing him off."

Raine pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

He also pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon in another incident on public transit.A day after attacking Devi, he threatened a man with a knife and bear spray at Churchill LRT Station and stole a busker's guitar.

His 22-month sentence was the result of a joint submission from the Crown and defence.

He received 21 months for the attack on Devi and a consecutive month for the second assault.

The judge said Tuesday Raine's early guilty plea, his Indigenous status, and a Gladue report submitted to the court were mitigating factors in his sentence, adding he was a victim of significant intergenerational historical trauma, and suffered from homelessness, poverty, and addictions from an early age.

Because of time served, Raine will only spend another 80 days in custody.

Once he is released, Raine will be subject to a 24-month probation period.

He was also handed a lifetime weapons ban and will be required to submit a sample of his DNA to the National DNA Databank.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk