A New Brunswick judge reduced the sentence of a Nigerian man for a court-order breach to a conditional discharge, citing the “imminent risk of deportation” as an unfairly harsh consequence for a first-time offender.
A New Brunswick judge has overturned a criminal sentence for Adebowale Adekoya, a 33-year-old Nigerian national, granting him a conditional discharge specifically to prevent his deportation. Adekoya had originally been sentenced to 12 months of probation after pleading guilty to breaching a no-contact order involving a former partner in early 2025. Justice Mario J. Lanteigne ruled that the “collateral immigration consequences” of a formal conviction were disproportionate to the offense, noting that a criminal record would render Adekoya inadmissible to remain in Canada.
The court heard that Adekoya, a junior business analyst with multiple international degrees, had invested years in his Canadian education and career. Although he spent 158 days in pre-trial custody for the breach during which time an underlying assault charge was dismissed the Crown argued that a discharge would be “excessively lenient.” However, Justice Lanteigne emphasized that Adekoya is a first-time offender with no family left in Nigeria, and that being deported would cause significant social and economic hardship while stripping society of his professional contributions.
Justice Lanteigne concluded that Adekoya had been “sufficiently deterred” by his time in jail and that a permanent conviction was not in the public interest. The judge noted that the trial judge had been misinformed about Adekoya’s citizenship status during the initial sentencing, which justified the intervention. By granting the conditional discharge, the court effectively removes the legal barrier that had triggered the Canada Border Services Agency’s deportation order, allowing the Moncton resident to stay in the country.