Juno News - July 04, 2025


Convicted killer was FREE to CARJACK in 2025？ + Husband fends off home-invaders with shotgun


Episode Stats

Length

21 minutes

Words per Minute

178.75768

Word Count

3,885

Sentence Count

224

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Welcome to the crime report. My name is Ron Chinzer, where every Friday we cover some of
00:00:09.800 the most shocking, outrageous crime stories in our country. While many of our politicians are
00:00:14.900 happy to ignore the problem, we here at Juneau News are not. But we need your support. Please
00:00:20.820 consider subscribing at JuneauNews.com. So first off, let's talk about what happened in Burlington,
00:00:26.780 Ontario. On June 25th, a woman was followed by a suspicious truck while driving her Porsche in
00:00:33.680 North Burlington. Now she pulled into a school parking lot because she was afraid and she wanted
00:00:39.480 to get away. But two masked men with guns jumped out and carjacked her at gunpoint. Thankfully,
00:00:46.180 she wasn't physically hurt, but this was a terrifying and violent ordeal for her. Shortly
00:00:51.580 after, police found the stolen Porsche plus the truck that they were involved in, and the two
00:00:56.600 suspects had fled on foot. Now one of the suspects had two loaded guns and drugs on them, and the
00:01:02.720 other tried to run and ditched a gun in a park and was later caught. Now a police dog accidentally
00:01:08.400 stepped on that loaded gun, and the gun went off and shot the dog in its paw. Luckily, the dog is
00:01:13.680 going to be okay. Now let's get to these bandits. Who exactly was arrested? Because their background
00:01:19.260 is going to blow your mind. The first person that arrested was James Garthwaite, who's 33 years old,
00:01:25.260 from Burlington. Now James has an interesting history, one that's going to blow your mind.
00:01:29.920 He's already been convicted of manslaughter in 2018 for a home invasion where a woman was shot
00:01:36.520 and killed. He was sentenced to 10 years, but let out early under something called statutory release.
00:01:43.780 Now let's go back to a flashback 2018 from a news clip and a blurb for what happened with James
00:01:49.640 Garthwaite. Now a judge had sentenced James Garthwaite, 26 at the time, to 10 years in prison
00:01:55.980 on Tuesday after he pled guilty to manslaughter in a 2017 death of Dana Camber. Dana Camber was shot in
00:02:03.720 the abdomen with a shotgun in her Kozloff Street apartment building on March 14th of 2017. The court
00:02:11.220 heard Garthwaite shot Camber with a sawed-off shotgun, but she wasn't the intended target. Quote,
00:02:18.260 she was, in that sense, an innocent bystander. End quote. Said Justice Michelle Fierst. Quote,
00:02:25.920 Ms. Camber was killed as Mr. Garthwaite tried to invade her home in pursuit of Mr. Nanabush.
00:02:32.300 Ms. Camber had no involvement in the dealings between Mr. Garthwaite and Mr. Nanabush and did
00:02:38.640 not provoke Mr. Garthwaite's anger in any way. End quote. During sentencing, Justice Michelle Fierst
00:02:45.420 noted that Garthwaite, who was on parole and bound by a firearms prohibition at the time of this
00:02:50.980 manslaughter, took steps to hide the shotgun he used to murder Ms. Camber. Now at the time of this
00:02:56.940 new carjacking in Burlington, Garthwaite was supposed to be under federal supervision. Police also found
00:03:03.980 ghost guns, a vehicle reprogramming device, and drugs like fentanyl and crystal meth that were tied
00:03:09.480 to Garthwaite. Now his accomplice is William Langdon, 32, from Oakville, Ontario. William was
00:03:16.540 already on a release in probation for other gun crimes, and he is accused of running from police
00:03:21.920 and ditching the loaded gun in a public park where the dog accidentally stepped on it and shot him in
00:03:26.580 the paw. But let's get to what is statutory release. In Canada, most criminals are automatically let out
00:03:33.160 after serving two-thirds of their sentence, even if they're violent or dangerous in most cases.
00:03:39.220 This isn't parole that you earn. It's built into the law unless the system thinks you're a major
00:03:44.560 threat. But the question becomes, what is a major threat if these guys weren't? And this person is
00:03:50.260 still being supervised, but they're free to roam our communities. Most Canadians look at this and they
00:03:55.160 already know why they should be worried. But let's break down into why this should worry you and me and
00:04:00.020 our families. This is a perfect example is why the public is losing faith in our justice system.
00:04:06.300 A man who already killed somebody in a home invasion that wasn't the intended target was let
00:04:10.880 out early and now allegedly committed another violent crime with the firearm on another innocent person.
00:04:17.960 And he did it with another man with a history of gun offenses who was already out on multiple
00:04:22.400 conditions and they still got involved. Now people are asking, how many chances do violent offenders get?
00:04:28.180 This is a question that we get asked all the time. And why are they back out on the streets so easily?
00:04:33.520 And the bigger picture here is this is not a local problem. This is a national problem.
00:04:38.440 This reflects a huge national and global trend. Violent repeat offenders are abusing the system
00:04:43.740 and re-offending. The police across the country are seeing more carjackings, home invasions, and ghost
00:04:50.180 guns, which are illegal guns, 3D printed and provided as firearms that are capable to be used and hurt innocent
00:04:56.020 people. Now the public, we end up paying the price while the criminals keep finding loopholes.
00:05:02.260 So let's talk about what needs to change. How do we fix something like this? Well, we can't have no more
00:05:06.700 automatic releases for violent offenders. You commit a violent crime with a gun, you stay in jail.
00:05:12.800 We have to make carjackings and home invasions their own separate unique criminal code offenses with
00:05:17.720 appropriate mandatory jail time. We absolutely need to tighten up bail and probation offenses. In this
00:05:23.820 particular case, both people had a violent history and were still allowed to serve their sentences
00:05:29.000 out in public. And we need to crack down hard on ghost guns and stolen vehicles all over the country
00:05:35.020 because they are tied to organized crime groups. And we need to focus more on protecting our victims.
00:05:40.920 We can't make things easier for repeat violent criminals. We need to reprioritize and rebalance
00:05:45.760 putting victims over repeat violent offenders. Now let's flash forward just east of Burlington
00:05:51.620 and just west of Toronto sandwich right in the middle is a place called the Tobocle. Now at 4 30 in the
00:05:58.080 morning on June 21st, a family of three, including an 11 year old boy were woken up by the sound of glass
00:06:04.280 shattering in their home. Four masked men came into the back with hammers, broke the rear patio door and
00:06:11.780 stormed the master bedroom. The mother who was there with her husband froze in fear. Luckily, her husband,
00:06:18.260 an illegal gun owner grabbed his shotgun from their bedroom, but he didn't have time to load it. Now,
00:06:24.000 when he had approached these four masked men breaking in the back door, they saw him with the
00:06:27.860 shotgun, which wasn't loaded. And that was enough for the suspects to panic and run, leaving the home
00:06:32.680 without stealing anything. The home security footage has gone viral and had captured them fleeing out of
00:06:38.360 the front door. Police were called and the investigation is ongoing. And to today, no arrests have been
00:06:44.620 made. How does the family feel about this? Look, this break in lasted about 17 seconds. But the mother
00:06:50.260 said the 17 seconds lasted for a lifetime. The family actually immigrated to Canada six years ago
00:06:56.920 and now fear for their safety and the safety of their family. They say this kind of violent home
00:07:01.660 invasion is far too common in the greater Toronto area. The mother said there's a criminal situation in
00:07:08.080 this country. I hope the government will do something. It's not just this one case. Nearly
00:07:13.740 24 hours later, a near identical break and enter and home invasion happened just north of Etobicoke in
00:07:19.640 a place called New York region. In that case, five masked men smashed through the rear glass door,
00:07:25.440 very similar to what happened at Etobicoke, while the homeowners were asleep. The police haven't
00:07:30.140 confirmed if these two home invasions are connected, but the method and timing are strikingly
00:07:34.620 similar. We would call that in the policing world, MO or modus operanda. How were things done?
00:07:40.740 These attacks are part of a growing overnight trend of home invasions coming in through rear front
00:07:45.860 doors by mass defenders with weapons, sometimes firearms, sometimes hammers that are attacking
00:07:51.220 and intimidating homeowners to steal things like high-end luxury vehicles, jewelry, and other items.
00:07:57.280 Now, what does this say about crime in Canada? This isn't just petty theft. These are planned
00:08:02.600 violent attacks targeting occupied homes while families are sleeping. It's probably every family's
00:08:08.260 worst nightmare. And the criminals are using speed, force, weapons, knowing that even if they
00:08:14.280 get caught, nothing's going to happen to them. They're likely to get bail and back out on again to do this
00:08:19.380 over and over again. The victims, many of them who are newcomers or regular good families, are just
00:08:26.060 trying to live peacefully, but now they feel like they're hostages in their own community and own
00:08:30.360 neighborhoods. And the police is starting to ask, just like the public, where are the consequences
00:08:36.000 and who's protecting us? Those are all fair and real questions. Now, why this is a wake-up call for
00:08:40.880 Canadians is because these home invasions are happening in safe communities, places where people
00:08:45.400 will move to for peace and for safety and security. And our justice system continues to treat these crimes,
00:08:53.340 home invasions, like they're break-and-enters, not targeted home invasions, which they are to normal,
00:08:58.020 innocent people when they're sleeping in their homes. And many homeowners feel like they can't
00:09:02.600 rely on the system. And in some cases, only a legal weapon is stopping these crimes from getting worse.
00:09:09.500 So what needs to change? How do we fix something like this? As mentioned before, we need to create
00:09:14.000 specific offenses for home invasions and carjackings with mandatory jail time. We have to treat these not
00:09:20.520 as property crimes, but what they are, violent, organized crime, invasive home invasions with
00:09:26.140 real dangerous outcomes that have lasting impacts. And we need to fast-track investigations and
00:09:31.880 prosecutions of home invasions, especially when they involve young children that are in the home.
00:09:37.740 We also need to provide our police and our Crown attorneys with stronger tools to keep violent
00:09:42.980 offenders, mass defenders, repeat offenders off of our streets. And lastly, the part that nobody ever
00:09:49.520 wants to talk about, we need to support our victims in their recovery. We need to fund programs that
00:09:54.700 help homeowners reinforce their security, especially in high targeted areas. Now let's move from Ontario
00:10:01.160 all the way over to Alberta. And let's talk about what happened in Edmonton on June, 2022, where
00:10:07.620 Heather Aftab Khan 30 was pulled over in Edmonton just after 1am by police. He was driving an SUV with
00:10:14.520 a plate cover, which is illegal. And the vehicle is registered to someone flagged for weapons offenses.
00:10:19.440 Now police stopped the vehicle as they should. And during the stop, they saw a suspicious pill bottle
00:10:25.400 and eventually found a loaded Glock handgun on Khan with oxycodone bills, cocaine and ammo in the car.
00:10:32.740 He's charged with multiple gun and drug offenses, rightfully so. And there were serious ones that
00:10:38.020 could have landed him over a decade in jail. But let's get to the trial. Let's get to what the judge did
00:10:43.200 and what happened in this series of events when the evidence was laid out. Now this judge threw out
00:10:48.740 all of the key evidence, the guns, the drugs, the ammunition, all of it gone because the judge ruled
00:10:55.280 that the police had violated Khan's charter of rights during the arrest. Why? Because the officers
00:11:01.060 didn't have reasonable grounds to arrest Khan based on what he saw. Specifically, the judge said
00:11:06.800 he didn't believe the officer could have clearly seen the drugs or had the training to spot a
00:11:12.700 tampered pill bottle. The judge admitted the gun was a serious threat, but said protecting charter
00:11:18.280 rights was more important than the evidence in the case, which happens over and over again,
00:11:23.200 even when the evidence is right in front of you and the story tells itself. Khan, ultimately,
00:11:28.060 he was acquitted on all of these charges and the Crown has not said yet if they're going to appeal
00:11:32.820 these charges. Now, why does this have people frustrated? It's because the judge agreed Khan had
00:11:39.060 a loaded handgun on him, the drugs and the suspicious setup, but still let him walk. And the
00:11:44.640 court didn't believe Khan's story because Khan said, hey, during the arrest, I was assaulted by the police
00:11:49.620 officers. And the courts actually said this was likely impossible because there was no evidence to
00:11:53.780 support it. And the story Khan had mentioned didn't make any sense. But even with all that,
00:11:59.580 the charter breach was considered by this judge more serious than the public safety being perceived.
00:12:04.660 To most Canadians, it feels like common sense was ignored in this case. A man caught with a loaded
00:12:09.780 gun and drugs should absolutely be held accountable. But what does this say about our system?
00:12:15.260 Canadian courts often focus more on protecting the rights of the accused than addressing the public
00:12:20.660 safety threat of illegal guns. And this case shows how technicalities can derail serious prosecutions
00:12:27.480 in our courts, even when weapons and drugs are clearly involved. I mean, the evidence is pretty
00:12:31.760 tangible when you get to a court of law. Here's the gun, here's the drugs, here's what I saw.
00:12:36.000 But even then, the court says, well, Mr. Khan's rights were breached. And we're going to ignore
00:12:39.960 all of that, even though they're physically present. Meanwhile, lawful gun owners are facing tougher
00:12:44.680 regulations, while people caught carrying loaded illegal guns walk out the front door of the courthouse.
00:12:50.360 And by the way, these guns are likely sourced to illegal smuggling from the United States.
00:12:55.580 Now, here's the big picture. Why does this matter on a larger scale? Because it's not about a single
00:12:59.600 case. This is about a bigger trend across the country. Police and prosecutions across Canada
00:13:04.640 are struggling to keep repeat armed offenders off of the street. And public confidence in the
00:13:09.380 justice system is completely eroding, especially when we see these repeat high-risk re-offenders
00:13:14.720 constantly being let out on legal technicalities. And in cases like this, it makes the public system
00:13:21.520 feel like the criminal system in our country is backwards. It's prioritizing these repeat violent
00:13:26.720 offenders over innocent Canadians and public safety. So let's talk about what needs to possibly change.
00:13:31.520 We need to update our laws to better define what reasonable grounds means, particularly for guns and
00:13:37.600 drugs. That whole landscape has changed. We need to train our judges to better balance charter protections
00:13:44.240 all across the board, but prioritizing public safety, which is also a right in Canada.
00:13:49.600 We need to reinforce discretion in key evidence when the public danger outweighs minor police mistakes,
00:13:57.520 if any were possibly made, that were done in an innocent and good faith. And we should reform the
00:14:02.640 charter test to stop obvious threats from being dismissed on technicalities and minor mistakes again
00:14:09.200 in the police application. Again, ones that are of good intent and goodwill. Without any of this,
00:14:14.720 we're going to continue to see major cases like this where the hard evidence is brought in front of you,
00:14:18.400 continue to get pulled. And trust me, if you were to see across the country,
00:14:22.480 how many of these cases don't even make the news, it would blow your mind.
00:14:25.520 Now outside of Ontario and Alberta, let's talk about something that drew national criticism this week.
00:14:31.200 It's come to light that a new report shows that between 2013 and 2024,
00:14:36.640 Emigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, we're going to call them IRCC now,
00:14:40.800 designated roughly 17,500 foreign nationals as rehabilitated, allowing them to apply for entry
00:14:49.280 into Canada, despite having passed criminal convictions in their host country. Now, these
00:14:54.800 people were initially barred under Canadian law, but the IRC granted exceptions if five years had
00:15:00.880 passed from their last criminal conviction or their sentence, and the person has shown good conduct
00:15:07.040 since. So imagine this, Canada had 17,500 people from other countries that were allowed to come into
00:15:15.120 our country after either being sentenced or convicted of a variety of crimes. And we as Canadians have no
00:15:21.440 idea. It wasn't until this recent report that got brought out that we're now questioning, well,
00:15:25.760 who have you allowed in our country already at a time when mass immigration has been one of the top
00:15:31.200 three topics talked about in every election and every newscast over the last couple months. Now,
00:15:36.880 once Canada has determined that they've been rehabilitated, they're allowed to enter Canada,
00:15:42.080 either as visitors, as workers, as students or immigrants, provided they meet all of the normal
00:15:48.000 visa requirements. But let's define how rehabilitation works for the IRCC. Now, again, this law allows
00:15:55.520 rehabilitation after five years of a conviction or sentence in your host country, and you finish that
00:16:00.720 sentence abroad. Now, the IRCC reviews cases, and it considers three things. Number one, it considers
00:16:08.560 the seriousness of the crime. Now, that's really broad. We don't know what defines a serious offense.
00:16:14.720 Is it a theft of a car? Is it a home invasion? Is it a murder? Is it involvement with a terrorist
00:16:20.240 organization? All really clear and normal questions to possibly ask, especially in the global landscape
00:16:25.840 that we're at. But we have no idea what is defined as a serious crime. Second of that is your behavior
00:16:31.840 since your conviction. And again, we're relying on and the IRCC is relying on their host country to be
00:16:38.560 able to say that this person's behavior has improved. Well, look at the cultural differences across the
00:16:44.480 world. And again, we're looking at potentially compromised host countries and their legal authorities
00:16:49.600 to provide us information to say, yes, ever since this person served their jail time, or they were
00:16:54.640 convicted in our courts for potentially serious crimes, they've been a good person and you should
00:17:00.160 allow them to have it. This creates a host of issues that we've seen repeated from many other countries.
00:17:06.000 And it's just destroyed any confidence we have in our immigration system in Canada. And lastly is,
00:17:12.160 what was the person's community support or stability in their home country? Now, Canada is a beautiful
00:17:17.840 country. I love this place. And I always remind people that there is nowhere else to go after
00:17:21.760 Canada. And if you look at a lot of our immigrant population, when they come to Canada, it's for two
00:17:26.080 things, safety and security. Additionally, it's a place where they can give their children a better
00:17:31.360 life. But a lot of them are fleeing other countries that are really infested with organized crime groups,
00:17:37.520 terrorism, or a complete lack of an ethical government. So when they come here, they're looking for a
00:17:42.960 better life. But we have no idea what the support systems are back home, nor should there be an
00:17:47.680 expectation that somebody coming from that country would have the ideal situation. So the big three,
00:17:53.120 seriousness of the crime, their behavior after their conviction, and what is their community
00:17:57.360 support and their stability back home, really draw this big question mark for all Canadians to say
00:18:02.480 these 17,500 people, how did our government make any sort of determination that all three were
00:18:08.320 managed or satisfied to the degree of letting almost 17, 18, 19,000 people into the country with a past
00:18:15.040 criminal conviction. Now why this alarms Canadians is we have no breakdown from the IRCC. We have no
00:18:21.520 idea in categories of serious violent or nonviolent offenses of all of these people that were giving
00:18:27.360 forgiveness to allow them to enter the country. And conservative MPs have been bringing this to light
00:18:32.960 saying, where is the transparency? And trust in our immigration screening has already been shaken by cases like in the past,
00:18:40.640 where a father and son were granted citizenship before planning a potential terror attack in Toronto,
00:18:47.040 Canada's largest city. Now, what does it say about safety and policy is that this rehab tool is intended
00:18:54.160 to allow people who paid their debt to their host country to reform and start anew. But without transparency,
00:19:01.040 some people have to question how many violent or high risk reoffenders have we quietly allowed in the
00:19:06.720 country that have committed offenses here on our soil. And public safety and national security advocates
00:19:13.520 are rightfully worried that serious convictions might have been approved and possibly obscured.
00:19:19.200 Now, trust in Canada's immigration system is very fragile right now. And these decisions fuel the
00:19:25.040 perception that dangerous violent offenders might have slipped through the crack. Now there is some
00:19:30.720 recommendations and fixes that could potentially brought to light. But we have to see if Canada's and IRCC's will
00:19:36.640 be willing to even do it. There should be generally public reporting. The IRCC should publish at least
00:19:42.320 a summary of breakdown every year of offenses types, violent for nonviolent, for example. Additionally,
00:19:49.120 we need to restrict rehabilitation for serious offenders. If you've been convicted of anything violent,
00:19:56.320 homicide, murder, or terrorism offenses, it should be an automatic disqualification. You are not allowed
00:20:01.840 in our country if you have those convictions in your past, regardless of your current behavior.
00:20:06.320 We don't need to absorb that responsibility for them to start anew. And then we need parliamentary
00:20:11.360 oversight. Where is the oversight in all of these cases? They need to have stronger ministerial sign
00:20:16.880 offs on some of the higher risk cases if they were to be accepted in. And again, that needs to be
00:20:21.840 transparent. And we need to vet our rehabilitated applicants more thoroughly. This becomes a major issue
00:20:27.840 is when you're vetting any new immigrant coming into the country, you're looking at our local systems,
00:20:32.640 which are probably going to have nothing on the person. And then we're looking at our partner countries,
00:20:36.960 or host countries, and we're really relying on them to provide us the information back on the person.
00:20:42.080 So there's this really obscure trust system, which needs to be as transparent as possible.
00:20:47.840 And we need to rebuild public trust. And that comes with public reporting. We need to have a better
00:20:52.560 breakdown of what happened with all these 17,500 people, and why were they accepted in, and what has
00:20:58.640 happened since. There are bound to have been mistakes that were made, and innocent Canadians
00:21:03.200 probably paid the price. So for us to build in confidence back into our immigration system
00:21:08.080 to the IRCC, this obvious flaw needs to be publicly addressed, and we need to be as transparent as possible.
00:21:14.400 All right, well, thank you, Canada, for tuning in today. And next Friday, we're going to revisit
00:21:18.560 everything that's bound to happen from today to next Friday. And what I'd ask is anything from here,
00:21:23.520 any questions or comments you have, please make sure you leave a comment in this video. I'm going to read all of
00:21:28.080 them. And next week, I'm going to pick one of the comments to address and answer your questions.
00:21:32.480 My name is Ron Chenzer. Please visit JunoNews.com. Subscribe, sign up, and stay informed.