B.C. man gets four years for role in group assault on inmate at Dartmouth jail

HALIFAX, N.S. — A British Columbia man found guilty of aggravated assault for his involvement in a group attack on an inmate at the Dartmouth jail in December 2019 has been handed a four-year sentence.

Matthew Ross Lambert, 39, of Richmond was convicted following a trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax in 2021.

He was sentenced last week by Justice Jamie Campbell. The decision was released in writing Thursday.

Lambert appeared in court via a video link from the Springhill Institution, where he’s serving a 16-year sentence he received in September 2020 for two other crimes.

That term included 14 years for conspiracy to import 157 kilograms of cocaine found hidden on the bottom of a container ship in Halifax Harbour in June 2018 and two years consecutive for conspiring to rob drug dealers in B.C. and Ontario after he got bail that summer.

Lambert, after remand credit, has about 10 years of his earlier sentence left to serve.

The four years for the aggravated assault will be served consecutively to the other sentence.

Stephen Anderson was beaten and stabbed in his cell at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility shortly after he arrived on the North 3 range on the evening of Dec. 2, 2019.

Seven men, including Lambert, went into the cell to carry out the assault while others stood in the way of correctional officers to keep them from intervening.

Anderson was transported to hospital with multiple stab wounds but recovered from his injuries.

Fifteen men were charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, forcible confinement, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and obstructing correctional officers. One of the men was also accused of assaulting a guard.

Twelve men were found guilty of aggravated assault following a pair of trials in 2021. A 13th man was convicted of obstruction.

Lambert is the 11th man to be sentenced for aggravated assault. The others all received prison terms in the range of four to six years.

The judge heard sentencing submissions on Aug. 9. The main issue was whether giving Lambert another four to six years in prison for the aggravated assault, as requested by the Crown, would be unduly harsh in his circumstances.

“An offender is not entitled to a reduction in sentence (because of earlier crimes),” prosecutor Scott Morrison argued.

“This was a serious attack within a correctional facility. Another point (to consider) is what role did (he) play in the event? It’s worth remembering that Mr. Lambert is one of the people who entered the cell – the first one into the cell. He led the charge into the cell.

“Unlike some of the individuals you sentenced on this file, he comes before the court with a very significant criminal record. By my calculation, it was 30 convictions over 21 years, including previous crimes of violence – assault, threats and robbery.”

Defence lawyer Joven Narwal asked for a three-year sentence. He said four to six more years in prison on top of the remaining 10 years would be “crushing” for his client.

Narwal said Lambert was prescribed medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder after he arrived at Springhill. That medication, the lawyer said, has made him more pro-social within the prison and has helped him upgrade his education and skills.

“As with any sentencing, all the principles and purposes of sentencing must be considered in coming to a sentence that is fair, fit and appropriate,” Campbell said in his decision.

“But Mr. Lambert’s case particularly engages the issue of how the sentencing principles of parity and totality should be weighed or, perhaps more appropriately, ‘synthesized’ in determining a sentence that is proportionate. They work together as factors in informing the crafting of a proportionate sentence. They do not work in direct opposition to each other.

“The issue is how a sentence that reflects parity, recognizing the sentences that others have received, can also reflect the reality that Mr. Lambert has already been sentenced to a term that has 10 years remaining so that if he received the same sentence as the others whose involvement was on the same level as his, he would be serving a total of 16 years.”

‘Protection of the law’

The judge said assaults committed within correctional facilities must be regarded seriously.

“Treating violence within these institutions seriously is not an act of retribution against the incarcerated population,” Campbell said. “It is a statement that those who are incarcerated should be entitled to the protection of the law. They should not have to live in fear of others who have chosen to live by an arbitrary code that they define and enforce.”

The judge said Lambert’s actions deserved a sentence of six years before considering the principle of totality.

“There should be some recognition of the fact that he is serving those 10 years,” he said. “But that cannot be at the cost of being arbitrary or inconsistent with respect to the sentences that have been imposed on others. Mr. Lambert is not entitled to a ‘discount’ in that sense, but his situation is different from that of the others who have been sentenced.”

“The sentence imposed is four years. It remains within the range of those imposed on others who were involved in the assault but takes into account the fact that sentences extending to 16 years would be disproportionate to his moral blameworthiness.”

The 12th man convicted of aggravated assault, Jacob Matthew Lilly, is in the middle of a sentencing hearing. The Crown wants Lilly declared a dangerous offender and locked up indefinitely.

Well-known Halifax crime figure Brian James (B.J.) Marriott pleaded guilty to aggravated assault rather than go to trial. The Crown is also seeking to have Marriott designated a dangerous offender.

A 15th man’s trial was postponed after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His charges were stayed in November 2022 after he was deported to Vietnam.