A judge in New Brunswick has given a man, who was charged with breaching a no-contact order, a lightened sentence to avoid his deportation.Justice Mario J. Lanteigne of the Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick stated that one of the factors in his decision to give Adebowale Adekoya a lightened sentence was to prevent his deportation back to his native Nigeria, the National Post reported."After considering the collateral immigration consequences of the conviction imposed by the trial judge, and the nature of the offense, I conclude that a conditional discharge would be in Mr. Adekoya’s best interest and would not be contrary to the public interest," Lanteigne wrote in his recent decision.In January 2025, Adekoya had been charged with assault of his former partner, which then led to the no-contact order being put in place.Just ten days after his initial arrest for the assault, he was then charged for breaking the no-contact order when he returned to the house he and his partner previously shared.He apparently tried to convince her multiple times to drop the charges and was reported to have been drinking heavily..Despite Adekoya's flagrant disregard for the no-contact order and seemingly the other charges, Justice Lanteigne sought to not convict him, stating that this would cause his deportation and that "a conviction is not necessary to meet the objective of deterrence and rehabilitation."Lanteigne also stated that having already served 158 days in custody, "Mr. Adekoya has been sufficiently deterred and that a conviction is not necessary."He added that "if Mr. Adekoya is deported, he will be returning to a country where he has not resided since his 20s, where he has no family nor friends. This will, according to his counsel, undermine all the years he invested in developing roots in Canada."Adekoya had attained a post-secondary degree in New Brunswick and had been working as a "junior business analyst" for a local company; this was also cited as a reason to prevent his deportation.Lanteigne went on to say that Adekoya should "be able to pursue his goals in this country where he has chosen to contribute socially and economically," adding that "this can only be a benefit to society."
