A Vaughan man who was acquitted of murder in the death of his girlfriend’s friend in May but found guilty on firearms charges has been sentenced to six years in prison.
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who → acquit → prison
Harold Santana Simon sat quietly in the prisoner’s box as the family of Makayla Roxburgh-Carpino looked on, many of them wearing pins depicting Roxburgh-Carpino’s face with a purple ribbon attached.
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many → sit → ribbon
After Superior Court Justice Suhail Akhtar delivered his sentence, dozens of family members got up and walked out of the courtroom, someone yelling, “You’re a coward, a woman abuser, a monster.
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You → deliver → courtroom
“While I confess that this verdict is in many ways very difficult to reconcile with the evidence, the jury verdict must be respected,” said Akhtar in his reasons, acknowledging that he too has trouble understanding the not guilty verdict.
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he → confes → verdict
On May 11, 2024, Simon entered an apartment on Northcliffe Boulevard near Eglinton Avenue West belonging to his girlfriend Sentoree Kamara without being invited.
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Simon → enter → girlfriend
He entered using a key he had been given before.
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he → enter → key
Hours earlier, Simon had a dispute with Kamara believing she was seeing other men.
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she → have → men
Roxburgh-Carpino was asleep in Kamara’s bed when Simon woke them both up and demanded that Roxburgh-Carpino leave the room.
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Carpino → wake → room
She refused.
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She → refuse → ?
There was a scuffle and a gun belonging to Simon was discharged during the incident.
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gun → be → incident
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The Crown alleged that Simon left the bedroom and he returned with a gun, placed it to Roxburgh-Carpino’s head and shot her.
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he → get → her
Simon in his testimony at trial, said the shooting was an accident.
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shooting → say → trial
He said Kamara had retrieved the gun that he had left in her apartment and pointed it at him.
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he → say → him
He sought to take the gun from her and said the firearm accidentally discharged killing Roxburgh-Carpino.
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firearm → seek → Carpino
Simon at trial, admitted the gun belonged to him and said he brought it to the apartment on a prior occasion for self-protection.
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he → admit → protection
Simon testified he had told Kamara someone told him someone from the area wanted to kidnap and harm him.
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someone → testify → him
Simon said Kamara had found the gun, which was fully loaded and cocked, and attempted to shoot him with it.
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which → say → it
He insisted the gun discharged only because he was trying to remove it from her hands.
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he → insist → hands
Immediately after the shooting, Simon said he panicked and fled the scene, driving away and taking the gun with him before disposing of it in a cemetery near his house.
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he → say → house
He later returned to recover it, he said, so he could seek a lawyer about what to do next.
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he → return → what
Simon was arrested in a high-risk takedown at a gas station near Orillia, around 8:30 p.m. on the evening Roxburgh-Carpino was shot.
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Carpino → arrest → evening
Akhtar said that the 30-year-old who is classified as a foreign national and has no status in Canada, will likely be deported once he’s released from prison.
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he → say → prison
The judge said he rejected Simon’s assertion that he left the gun in Kamara’s apartment for self-protection saying “it makes no sense.”
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it → say → sense
Akhtar also found there was no real explanation for why he didn’t contact his lawyer, nor why he had the gun for nearly two years.
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he → find → years
The serial number of the gun was also defaced which Akhtar pointed out is an offence in itself.
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Akhtar → deface → itself
At the sentencing hearing, 31 victim impact statements were filed including one from the mother of Roxburgh-Carpino who said the day her daughter’s life was taken away, was also the day parts of her were taken.
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parts → file → her
She loved celebrating all the mothers in the family because family meant everything to her.
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family → love → her
Instead, I spent Mother’s Day making funeral arrangements for my 20-year-old daughter,” said Sabrina Carpino.
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Carpino → spend → daughter
The Crown had sought a sentence of 12 to 16 years in prison, consecutive sentences for the charges of possession of a loaded firearm and the unauthorized possession of a firearm in a vehicle.
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Crown → seek → vehicle
But Akhtar said a sentence in the double-digit range was not appropriate.
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sentence → say → range
In handing down a six-year sentence, Akhtar said the possession of this firearm led to the death of Roxburgh-Carpino after Simon entered the apartment uninvited and found it aggravating that Simon left a loaded cocked gun in the apartment where a child was present.
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child → hand → apartment
Afterwards, Akhtar noted that he tried to get rid of it and conceal the evidence in a public place.
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he → note → place
After credit for pre-sentence custody, the judge told court he has two years and four months left to serve.
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he → tell → years
He is also facing a lifetime prohibition order and a DNA order.
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He → face → order
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