Skip to Content Subscribe Our Offers My Account Manage My Subscriptions FAQ Newsletters Canada Canadian True Crime Canadian Politics Health World Israel & Middle East Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Comics NP News Quiz New York Times Crossword Horoscopes Life Eating & Drinking Style Sponsored Play for Ontario Travel Travel Canada Travel USA Travel International Cruises Travel Essentials Culture Books Celebrity Movies Music Theatre Television Business Essentials Advice Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Buy Canadian Home Living Outdoor Living Tech Style & Beauty Kitchen & Dining Personal Care Entertainment & Hobbies Gift Guide Travel Guide Deals Savings National Post Store More Sports Hockey Baseball Basketball Football Soccer Golf Tennis Driving Vehicle Research Reviews News Gear Guide Obituaries Place an Obituary Place an In Memoriam Classifieds Place an Ad Celebrations Working Business Ads Archives Healthing Epaper Manage Print Subscription Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ Newsletters Canada World Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Life Shopping Epaper Manage Print Subscription HomeNP CommentJamie Sarkonak: How a Jamaican man remained in Canada years after robbing sex workersAt least one judge gave him a lenient sentence to help reduce odds of deportationLast updated 23 minutes ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.An Air Canada plane takes off at Pearson International Airport on August 14, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. Photo by Cole Burston/Getty ImagesIn 2019, Jamaican national Dwayne Marlon Douglas committed a number of vile acts. He held a gun to the head of a sex worker as three of his male companions took turns having sex with her; then, he had his way too.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorDays after that, he pistol-whipped a man with an imitation handgun, stole his phone and other valuables, and threatened to kill him if he reported the robbery to police. He also robbed a female erotic masseuse in a stairwell around the same time, stealing $4,300 worth of items; after she reported the crime, he told her she was in “trouble.” He also distributed nude photographs of his girlfriend for money without her consent.He was convicted of all of these crimes in 2021 and 2022, but because criminal courts go easy on non-citizens, and because the immigration system offers what feels like endless off-ramps to deportation, he was still in Canada as of January.This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againIt took until 2025 for immigration officials to issue a removal order against Douglas on the basis that he was inadmissible to Canada for serious criminality. He was able to appeal this because no judge had ever given him a sentence of over six months’ jail (had he received such a sentence, he would have lost that right to appeal). The appeal, however, was unsuccessful: in January, the adjudicator for his case rejected his request to remain in-country for “humanitarian and compassionate” reasons — a good call, but one that shouldn’t have had to be made in the first place. The man should have been excised from Canada the moment he got out of jail.Douglas was a permanent resident who arrived in Canada in 2006 at the age of six. We will never have the privilege of knowing whether he committed crimes as a youth: in Canada, such information is off limits. It didn’t take long for him to rack up adult charges after turning 18, however.The immigration appeal adjudicator summarized his sentence history: for his terrifying group assault of a sex worker in a hotel room, he received a sentence of only six months in prison less a day. For distributing nude photographs without consent, he received 12 months’ probation (and had spent three months in jail pre-conviction). For robbing the erotic masseuse, he received a 12-month suspended sentence, meaning no jail (though he had also spent three months in jail prior to conviction).It’s unclear whether Douglas’ lack of citizenship played a part in these lenient sentences, but it certainly helped cut down his pistol-whipping-plus-robbery sentence, which ended up being just under six months:“Although the Crown sought a 12-month jail sentence, (Douglas) was sentenced to six months less a day because of the immigration consequences that a longer sentence would have,” noted the immigration appeal adjudicator. “The judge considered humanitarian and compassionate factors in arriving at this disposition.”The adjudicator also noted Douglas’ in-custody record, which also demonstrated a tendency for violence: “He was found guilty of nine institutional misconducts between October 2020 and December 2021. Most involved physical altercations with adult male inmates.”Douglas argued for clemency by using his three Canadian children, but he couldn’t show that he played much of a role in their lives, or that they would be harmed by his deportation. He certainly wasn’t providing for them: as of his January immigration hearing, he was unemployed, living with a parent, and was on Ontario Works.There’s another problem: Ontario provides social assistance payments to non-citizen criminals.The ideal Canadian justice system would eject non-citizens for any criminal behaviour. It would prohibit judges from giving sentence discounts to reduce the likelihood of deportation — which would be the law already had the Liberals not rejected a Conservative bill targeting this point. It would not give years of protracted hearings to robbers, letting them exhaust every possible far-fetched argument against removal. It would operate on hard, fast deadlines so that people like Douglas wouldn’t sit for years in legal purgatory. And it would do this without letting such characters collect a salary from the taxpayer.The ideal system would also be transparent about when inadmissible people finally left.As of right now, we don’t know whether Douglas is still in Canada. It’s possible that he and his lawyers are frustrating his departure by challenging more parts of his removal proceedings. Or, it’s possible he was flown out months ago. Until federal laws are changed to allow that information to be published, it’s considered a violation of deportee privacy rights to disclose whether an on-record criminal has been sent home.As much as he’s taken from Canada, Douglas has at least given us a living example of why so much of the system needs to be changed. The sooner that happens, the fewer victims of Douglas-like figures there will be.National Post Get the latest from Jamie Sarkonak straight to your inbox Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.