Photo courtesy of: Missing Children Society of Canada
Father of missing teen Mariam Makhniashvili gets 6-year sentence
680News staff
Dec 08, 2011
TORONTO, Ont. - Vakhtang Makhniashvili, the father of missing teen Mariam, has been sentenced to six years in jail, Thursday, after he pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault earlier this year.
He will serve four years and 11 months with a credit for pretrial custody.
"It's up to the judge, and they have to look at a lot of things - psychiatric reports, the breach of the bail, the horrible tragedy to the complainant," commented Makhniashvili's lawyer Calvin Barry.
"He had a delusional disorder that explained away at least some of what happened - not enough for an acquittal or not guilty, but enough for some compassion on a rehabilitative ground."
Earlier this year, Makhniashvili pleaded guilty to two separate stabbings, one of which involved a couple he blamed for a negative story on his daughter Mariam's disappearance in September of 2009.
Meanwhile, on the same day, police said they are looking into a reported sighting of Mariam earlier this week in Toronto.
Const. Wendy Drummond said police are going through surveillance video but can't confirm it was her.
"We've gone through hours and hours of video surveillance and tips that have come in," Drummond told 680News. "We continue to request the public to provide any information that they have, but unfortunately we have nothing that leads us in any one direction."
"There's nothing concrete to suggest it is Mariam."
The only clue ever found was the now 19 year old's backpack.
Barry said his client did not seem to know about the latest sighting tip.
http://www.680news.com/news/local/article/307983--father-of-missing-teen-mariam-makhniashvili-gets-6-year-sentence
