WINNIPEG—A transgendered Winnipeg prisoner is seeking triple credit for pre-trial custody, claiming to be the victim of mocking and torment while living as a woman in the city’s remand centre.

Court was told Monday that Joseph McNabb, 29, has the physical appearance of a woman and has been kept in the remand centre’s medical centre because it would be unsafe for her in either the men’s or women’s ward of the jail.

Defence lawyer Martin Glazer says McNabb has suffered from ridicule and abuse from inmates and guards and has faced “the possibility of physical attacks from inmates.”

McNabb is being sentenced after pleading guilty to trying to rob an unconscious, dying man.

McNabb was found not guilty of manslaughter last month after a judge ruled there were elements of self-defence and provocation in the April 2009 killing of Evaristo Caniuman, 60, who died of head trauma after being knocked to the ground.

McNabb admitted being drunk and didn’t deny pushing Caniuman, but said it came after the man approached her on the street, asked for a sexual favour and then tried to steal her shoes.

McNabb took offence at the uninvited solicitation and fought back. She has spent the equivalent of nearly one year in pre-trial custody.

Crown attorney Scott Cooper wants McNabb to be given just single-time credit plus an additional two years in jail, citing an extensive criminal record that includes more than a dozen convictions and numerous breaches of court orders.

Queen’s Bench Justice Kenneth Hanssen reserved his decision until Friday afternoon.

(Winnipeg Free Press)