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Man involved in Springdale Street shooting has colon cancer, court hears

Harold Noftall's lawyer has a list of reasons his client should serve less than three years in prison — with colon cancer being chief among them.

The court heard Noftall, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in a shooting on Springdale Street in St. John's last year, has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation sessions since he was arrested.

Arnold Hussey, his defence lawyer, said his client suffers from attention deficit disorder and addictions but has been seeing a psychologist inside Her Majesty's Penitentiary and is beginning to "see the light."

Nonetheless, Noftall is considered a high risk to reoffend, lawyers for both sides stated Friday in Newfoundland and Labrador provincial court.

Noftall has a 17-page criminal record dating back to 1980, with the majority of offences being property-related. Hussey asked Judge Mike Madden to consider his non-violent past, prior to a 2016 conviction for uttering threats and the shooting in 2017.

A statement of facts, read in court Monday, laid out the shocking details of the night a 21-year-old man was shot in Noftall and Mabel Stanley's apartment.

The two have admitted to being part of a plot to lure the man to the apartment with sexual text messages from 19-year-old Rebecca Murphy. When he arrived, they planned to use plastic wrap to restrain him in a chair while they beat him.

When the victim made a run for it, Murphy's 16-year-old boyfriend shot him in the rear end with a shotgun and fractured his femur.

Noftall admitted he kicked the man and pistol whipped him with a pellet gun.

The Crown is asking for a sentence of five to seven years for Noftall, and four to six years for Stanley. Her lawyer has asked for a three-year sentence, while Hussey has asked for between two and three years for Noftall.

Madden will render his decision on Feb. 13 at 9 a.m.