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OTTAWA — The Manitoba Court of Appeal has ruled a judge gave an excessively light sentence to a 23-year-old Somalian refugee to prevent him from being deported, after the man rammed his car into a police vehicle and threatened to kill the officers who arrested him.

The court ruling Oct. 31 increased Mustaf Ahmed Yare’s sentence to more than 13 months, from five months and 25 days. In their decision, the judges found the longer sentence “may result in his deportation,” but was necessary because the sentencing judge “failed to impose a sentence that was proportionate to the gravity of the offences.”

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The case sheds light on how judges weigh the severity of crimes committed by non-citizens against the consequences of jail time for those who could be deported, after Harper-era changes to immigration rules attempted to make it easier to remove criminals.

Yare’s family is Somali, and he was born and raised in a refugee camp, his lawyer said. He and his family moved to Canada in 2009 and he lived with his parents, according to the appeal court ruling. In September 2017, he was arrested after he refused to pull over during a traffic stop, instead accelerating, ramming into the police car and causing it to stall. He then drove off at high speed with other police cars chasing him, crashed into a metal sign post and fled on foot.