Former Rider Justin Cox sentenced to a year in jail

Justin Cox is going to jail

The former Roughrider defensive back pleaded guilty to a brutal assault of his former partner and was sentenced in a Regina courtroom Friday morning.

In a lengthy and thorough ruling, Justice Leslie Halliday sentenced Cox to nine months in jail for assault and another three months for a breach in his release conditions by contacting his former partner and trying to convince her not to testify against him.

The 24-year-old victim, whose name is protected by a publication ban, was left bloodied and bruised with a broken nose.

Court heard that Cox began attacking his former partner in the parking lot of Regina’s Normanview Mall where they had gone to get a pregnancy test because she believed she was pregnant.

Cox began to punch, strike and elbow her as they drove from the mall to the site of the old Mosaic Stadium, roughly five kilometres away.

It was there that she was able to escape from Cox and flag down a passerby to help her. Cox continued to pursue her and attempted to climb into the witness’s vehicle to get to his partner.

“It is not unreasonable to say that Mr. Cox was being driven by a blind and uncontrollable rage,” Justice Halliday said during sentencing.

“He was clearly a danger to the victim and the public at the time. He was not about to give up in the pursuit of the victim,” she added.

At the hospital, it was confirmed that his victim was pregnant with his child. She has since moved across the country and given birth to a baby boy.

As part of his sentence, Cox is not allowed to contact his victim or his son directly or indirectly. He is also not allowed to mention her on social media.

In total Cox has been sentenced to 360 days, but has received 30 days credit for time served.

Cox has another assault charge pending before the courts. That charge will go to trial in March.