Unlawful confinement conviction attracts four month sentence

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on November 10, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Preventing a man from leaving an apartment while he was being assaulted earned Kur Wuol Kur an unlawful confinement charge and a jail sentence.

Kur pleaded guilty to the charge Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court and was handed a four-month custodial sentence.

Kur and a friend, Abdalla Ibrahim, were smoking outside an apartment building on 4 Street South at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 22, 2019 when they were approached by another man. The man asked for a cigarette, and Ibrahim, who believed the man was involved in a relationship with his girlfriend, invited him to his apartment.

When the three men arrived at the apartment Ibrahim began assaulting the victim, while Kur prevented him from fleeing.

“Mr. Ibrahim began to physically assault (the victim),” Crown Prosecutor Adam Zelmer told court. “He delivered kicks and punches to (his) face and body.”

The victim was unable to fight back because he was slightly intoxicated and much smaller than his assailant. And when he attempted to leave, he couldn’t because Kur was blocking the doorway.

Ibrahim was convicted in 2020 of unlawful confinement, uttering threats and assault causing bodily harm, and was sentenced to 15 months in jail.

The victim was finally able to leave after Kur realized the assault was becoming too violent and intervened. He shoved the man out the door then prevented Ibrahim from continuing the attack.

Zelmer pointed out that although Kur was not the “primary actor” in the incident, the victim suffered significant injury, including a broken tooth, before Kur finally ended the assault.

Lethbridge lawyer Scott Hadford acknowledged the serious nature of the assault, but added his client, who is a refugee from Sudan, had a change of heart and used good judgement to stop the attack.

“It’s a night that got out of hand, and he wished it hadn’t,” Hadford said.

Although sentenced to four months in jail, Kur was given credit for more than that amount of time he spent in remand custody, which completes his sentence.

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