TORONTO, July 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Mary Wagner is back in jail after an Ontario judge sentenced her to 7.5 months for mischief and breach of probation Thursday.
Because Wagner has already served three months in jail awaiting trial, the sentence works out to 90 days, of which Wagner will serve 60, her lawyer Peter Boushy told LifeSiteNews after the trial.
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Before Justice Neil Kozloff pronounced the sentence in the packed courtroom, Wagner asked him to think about “the other elephant in the room — the small one, the unborn child, which according to Canadian law is not a human being.”
Wagner, 44, was referring to Kozloff’s words on March 7, when it was clear her two-day trial would carry over another day.
At that point, Wagner had been in jail since her December 8 arrest at Toronto’s Women’s Care Clinic.
The judge said then he “wanted to address the elephant in the room,” which was Wagner’s refusal to agree to bail condition to stay away from abortion centers, coupled with the difficulty of getting an early date to finish the trial.
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“I feel duty bound to go” to the abortion center to protect unborn children,“to do what I can to reach the hearts of their mothers,” she said.
Wagner pleaded not guilty to mischief and breach of probation, charges stemming from her arrest at the abortion center located on the 5th floor of a medical building at 960 Lawrence Avenue West.
She and a companion entered the abortion center carrying red roses and pro-life literature and attempted to persuade women in the waiting room to choose life for their unborn children.
Batorska argued the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt Wagner breached a probation order not to go within 100 meters of any abortion center in Ontario, and committed mischief by interfering with the lawful operation of a business.
“The mere presence of Ms Wagner was enough to halt the operation of the clinic,” she told the Court.
Between the abortion center staff calling the police at 9:28 am, and Wagner’s arrest at 10:00 am, “we’re talking about a disruption of at least 30 minutes,” Batorska said.
The Crown asked for a sentence of a year: six months for mischief, and six months for breach of probation.
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Boushy, who argued the case before Campbell along with Russell Browne, told LifeSiteNews the charge of mischief obscures what goes on in the abortion centers.
“The Crown repeatedly mentioned that Mary Wagner was interfering with the operation of a business,” he said. “But I think we have to consider that the operation of the business concerns the extinguishing of babies in their mother’s womb.”
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Wagner is expected to be released by mid-September. Her mailing address is: Vanier Centre for Women, 655 Martin St, Milton, ON L9T 5E6.
