Thursday, May 08, 2008

Canadian man jailed despite aching eyelashes

A judge didn't buy a Windsor man's claim yesterday that serving jail time for a domestic assault on his common-law wife would be "inhumane" because of a rare medical condition that, among other things, causes his eyelashes to grow inward and leaves him in never-ending pain.

Instead, he was sentenced to 100 days in jail.

The 38-year-old man asked the court to sentence him to house arrest, so the common-law wife he struck could care for him.

But Ontario Court Justice Greg Campbell, noting the man's long criminal record, did not buy the defence argument that jail time would be "inhumane" punishment under the circumstances. "I am not unsympathetic," Judge Campbell said. But, the judge added, "I have no evidence that (he) is suffering in any way that can't be attended to in jail."

The man, who is not being named to protect the identity of his victim, has Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a severe disorder of the skin and mucous membranes that, in his case, was caused by a drug reaction as a child.

The man needs his eyes cleaned out daily and to have antibiotic drops and ointment applied. The judge said staff at the jail will be able to tend to him.

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