Leeson pleads guilty

A superior court judge has sentenced a 28-year-old-man, who is suspected of being the second in command of a criminal group, to almost a decade of jail time.

Steven Leeson appeared in the Superior Court of Justice in Thunder Bay on Tuesday. Police charged Leeson for the kidnapping and assault of a 45-year-old-man in January 2010. Throughout the course of that investigation, officers discovered other crimes.

The court heard that Leeson was involved in a number of incidents that resulted in people either losing the tip of a finger or the entire digit.

In one incident on Aug. 9, 2009, Leeson and three other men met in a motor home parked in the Italian Cultural Centre parking lot. One of the three men laid out three tools – garden shears, tin snips, and a cigar top cutter.

The man who laid out the tools told one of the two other men to choose one. Leeson then cut off the man’s finger with a cigar cutter and poured peroxide on the wound. The finger was removed because the victim had allegedly “talked too much,” the court heard.  
Leeson pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.

“I got a little carried away,” Leeson told the court.

Leeson apologized to both the victims and his parents for what he had done and said he was taking steps to get his life back together. He said his addictions to alcohol and cocaine played a role in how he acted.

He also added that he had unresolved anger issues over the divorce of his parents.

Justice Helen Pierce sentenced Leeson to nine years for assault and assault causing bodily harm, one year for use of a firearm and six years for unlawful confinement and kidnapping. He will serve those sentences concurrently.

She awarded him credit, at two-for-one, for the 19 months he already had served while in custody.

“The facts on these charges are horrific,” Pierce said. “I’m sure the community will be shocked as I have been. I hope you can find the rehabilitation that you seek, but what you have done has terrified the victims.”

Assistant Crown Attorney Deb Kinsella said Leeson was the next in command in a criminal group involved in selling drugs. She said the crimes were sadistic and motivated by power and money.

While the crimes were severe, she said she still hoped Leeson could be rehabilitated.

Defence Attorney Chris Watkins said Leeson’s guilty plea proved that he felt remorse for what he had done and was taking steps to deal with his addictions.

“The facts read like a Quentin Tarantino movie,” Watkins said.

“It wasn’t a movie. These are real people who were involved in this and are real victims.

Leeson recognized that. He unfortunately got himself with alcohol and drugs and found himself sucked into a lifestyle even now I think he’s searching for answers to and why this happened.”