Racism rewarded in the Deep South

Southern Ontario, that is--the land of the "nipper-tipper."

A racist thug deliberately and repeatedly rammed a carful of people with his pick-up truck, finally running them off the road and into a tree. One man, Shayne Berwick, suffered permanent brain damage as a result, and is now confined to a wheelchair.

Most Two of the car's four occupants were Asian. Race, said the judge, was a motivating factor in the attack.

And then he handed the punk a sentence of two years less a day. He'll be out in a few months.

Judge Alfred Stong declined to invoke the hate crime provisions of the Criminal Code that allow for harsher penalties.

The audience was outraged by this judicial wrist-slap. Ruohang Liu, one of the victims of the attack, broke a courthouse window. He was promptly arrested.

Berwick, in a coma for three months after the attack, requires constant care now. His parents were "devastated" by the judge's kid-gloves treatment of the racist, whose crime changed their lives forever. Berwick's father: "It is a soft sentence and I don’t think it sends any kind of message to others not to hate."

No kidding. But perhaps the judge had no such message in mind.