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By Jack Wilson - Red Deer Advocate
Published: November 05, 2009 11:01 AM
A former Canadian amateur boxing champion was jailed for four months on Thursday for the beating of another man in a drunken fight.
Sleman Usmanee, 21, pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm, theft of less than $5,000 and twice failing to show up for court appearances.
That fact that Usmanee used boxing skills in the fight concerned Judge Thomas Schollie when the boxer appeared in Red Deer provincial court on Thursday.
“You had a tremendous advantage over the average person” with your fighting skills, Schollie said.
The judge said he had to jail the Red Deer Boxing Club member because of the advantage.
“Four months is generous,” the judge said.
Court heard that Usmanee became involved in the fight during a drinking session with another man, who suffered serious injuries.
Usmanee was a star boxer with the club for several years beginning in the late 1990s, after he immigrated to Canada.
He held several Canadian junior titles at the 98-, 105- and 114-pound divisions.
He also held several Alberta Golden Glove titles and fought and beat numerous American opponents at tournaments in Kansas City, Texas
and all over Canada.
The Red Deer College student also was involved in a automated teller scam last December at a convenience store.
Usmanee was among a group of people who secretly installed equipment in the ATM and fooled the machine’s internal workings.
The machine was programmed to dispense $20 bills instead of $5 dollar bills.
The three-day scam netted the thieves $3,190.
Usmanee was ordered to repay that amount.
The accused failed to show up for his scheduled trial last month and an earlier court date.
jwilson@reddeeradvocate.com
