Alberta man who killed infant son sentenced to 7 years

Warning: This story contains graphic details.

The man who killed his one-year-old son and assaulted another child in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., in 2019 was sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday.

Damien Starrett "punched, kicked, stomped in the head" of his son Ares Starrett, a judge said when he found him guilty of manslaughter in June.

Starrett, 33, was sentenced to seven years, but with credit for poor treatment at Edmonton Remand Centre and restrictive bail conditions, his sentence was reduced to approximately four-and-a-half years.

Justice John T. Henderson called the violence "profound" and an "extreme act of brutality," and said the risks during the attack were foreseeable.

In his sentence, the judge said he considered Gladue principles and psychological factors, including addiction, the negative impacts of substance abuse and intergenerational trauma stemming from residential schools. Gladue reports are prepared for Indigenous people ahead of sentencing and consider their experiences and challenges.

The judge said the Gladue and psychological factors in this case didn't affect the ultimate sentence, but did reduce the moral blameworthiness of the attack.

Starrett's conduct, the judge said, fell on the more serious end of the moral blameworthiness scale.

The Crown sought nine to 10 years for manslaughter, while the defence wanted four to six years. Both agreed Starrett deserved credit for the abuse at Edmonton Remand Centre, including when one or more guards called Starrett a "baby killer" and suggested he kill himself, Henderson wrote in his sentencing decision. The judge said the guards committed a "gross violation of their duty to protect all prisoners," including when one guard told other prisoners that Starrett was accused of killing a child.

The judge settled on seven years. His sentence was reduced approximately two-and-a-half years due to "grossly inappropriate conduct" by Edmonton Remand Centre guards, harsher jail conditions due to COVID-19 lockdowns, and strict conditions during house arrest that only allowed him to leave the house to exercise one hour per day.

"I'm glad the judge recognized a lot of the factors I was asking him to recognize: state misconducts, the Gladue factors in the case. It was a very complex case," Starrett's lawyer, Rory Ziv, said outside the Edmonton Law Courts.

"I'm hoping he's going to go to a medium-security jail and I hope authorities will deal with security issues appropriately."

Dozens of people, including Ares' mother and family friends, protested Starrett's bail release in Fort Saskatchewan in 2020. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Sean Amato and Joe Scarpelli