'Vicious, random, and unprovoked': 9-year sentence for attack on mother outside Edmonton daycare
The man who slammed an Edmonton mother to the ground and strangled her for more than four minutes as her children looked on last July has been sentenced to nine years in prison by an Alberta Provincial Court judge.
Rockie Rabbit, 31, pleaded guilty in December of 2021 to aggravated assault and overcoming resistance by choking.
The pleas followed a violent, methamphetamine-fuelled attack on a 39-year-old woman who was picking up her children from a downtown daycare and was recorded by a security camera.
“The CCTV footage displays frighteningly uncontrolled and brutally vicious assaultive behaviour,” said Judge Carrie Sharpe in sentencing Rabbit to nine years on each count.
“This is yet another horrific example of the scourge on the community caused by methamphetamine.”
The sentences are to be served concurrently, and with 1 1/2 credit for time already spent in custody, Rabbit has just under eight years left to serve.
Sharpe noted the “vicious, random, and unprovoked” nature of the attack and how the CCTV video showed Rabbit strangling her for nearly 4 1/2 minutes.
She also cited the psychological damage witnessing the attack imposed on the two children.
“Young, innocent children should never be put in a position where they are fearful for their safety and the safety of their families,” reads Sharpe’s ruling.
“The senseless violence perpetrated by Rockie Rabbit did just that.”
The sentences outweigh the six-year term sought by Crown prosecutors and three years incarceration sought by Rabbit’s lawyer.
“This is a case much closer to near murder than to near accident,” Sharpe ruled.
In a victim impact statement, the woman says she is terrified to leave her home, does not sleep well and how her children refer to the incident repeatedly.
Rabbit prepared a letter of apology acknowledging how close he came to killing her and indicating that he feels regret, guilt and embarrassment at his actions.
'VERY NEARLY CAUSED HER DEATH'
An agreed statement of facts from Rabbit’s December hearing describes how the woman was walking along 111 Street near 105 Avenue to collect her three children from Seven Stones Daycare.
Rabbit tried to pull off a grey backpack she was wearing, asking her, “did you kill my daughter?” and demanded to know where the girl was.
Reading from the statement, Crown prosecutor Mark Fernandes recounted how she tried to pull away from him, but he slammed her to the ground with both hands before mounting her and alternating between strangling her and punching her in the chest and stomach.
Two of her children, aged six and eight years old, “cried hysterically” as they saw the attack through the glass daycare door, according to the statement.
Court heard how when police arrived they found Rabbit on top of the mother, still strangling her. He was arrested and later admitted to police that he had consumed methamphetamine before the attack.
The attack left the woman unconscious with a tennis-ball sized hematoma on her head and shallow breathing. Her face had also turned blue and she was foaming at the mouth.
Her husband ran to the scene from their family’s home about a block away and was “distraught,” according to court documents.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.