Editor’s note: The following article contains graphic details that could be disturbing for some readers.
A Toronto man with a violent criminal past was sentenced Friday to 58 months in a federal institution. With time already served that was reduced to 26 months behind bars.
Carl Obermeier, 60, was sentenced for the June 2018 assault and sexual assault of a woman in Oro-Medonte Township.
Obermeier was living in Toronto but working and staying in Oro-Medonte Township when the attack happened, court heard.
Sentenced to six months for the assault charge, Obermeier was also handed a fixed sentence of 58 months plus a 10-year supervision order.
Justice Howard Leibovich reduced the sentence by 32 months due to time served, giving Obermeier two years and two months behind bars.
The two sentences will run concurrently.
Obermeier will also to have to provide a DNA sample, was given a lifetime weapons prohibition order and cannot communicate with the victim. He also received a six-month sentence for breach of probation that will run concurrently with the other two charges.
Leibovich said a “significant sentence was needed" to denounce Obermeier’s behaviour.
The Crown was asking for a five-year sentence in addition to the 646 days Obermeier spent in pre-trial custody.
Leibovich also said Obermeier “has now been in the community for almost two years awaiting trial and sentence, without incident.”
The judge said Obermeier has shown willingness to receive treatment while institutionalized, such as taking a drug to reduce his sex drive.
While the defence was asking for bail with strict conditions, arguing there has not been an incident with Obermeier for the past two years, Leibovich said institutional treatment was needed to ensure community safety.
“In order for the long-term supervision order to effectively manage and control Mr. Obermeier’s risk to an acceptable level, he must have a proper base,” Leibovich said. “That base will be provided in an institution as it takes various programming as suggested by (a physician).”
Court heard Obermeier had 17 prior convictions, between 1980 and 2016, include one for manslaughter in Toronto as well as two for sexual assault. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault in the 2006 stabbing of two men during an altercation following a night of drinking in Scarborough.
At his Feb. 11 sentencing hearing, Obermeier addressed the court by saying "if I do go back to jail, that will be the end of everything."
"It has done so much damage. … I will not come out a better man. You may as well keep me there," he added.
