23-05-2025
Judge sentences youth who murdered young father-to-be protecting family to seven years in custody
A Winnipeg teen fatally stabbed coming to the aid of his family as they were attacked while walking to their car after a downtown concert had learned just hours earlier he was going to be the father of a baby boy, a court heard Thursday.
A now-16-year-old boy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the June 17, 2023 killing and was sentenced to seven years custody and conditional supervision in the community, the maximum sentence allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Neither the teen offender or his 17-year-old victim can be named under terms of a publication ban. Both the offender and the victim are Indigenous.
MIKE THIESSEN / FREE PRESS
Winnipeg police were called to Graham Avenue and Fort Street on June 17, 2023, responding to a stabbing after a concert.
The teen victim was 'killed in front of our eyes,' his girlfriend said in a victim impact statement read out in court. 'The one I loved the most (was) stabbed to death protecting me, protecting his unborn baby, protecting his sister (and mother).'
Earlier in the day, the young couple spent time celebrating with friends after a 'gender reveal' party confirming they would be having a baby boy.
'He was excited, he had so many plans for us,' said the woman, who was four months pregnant at the time of the victim's death. 'He was preparing to be the best father for our baby, preparing to give him the best life.'
Crown attorney Brent Davidson and defence lawyer Matt Munce jointly recommended the seven-year sentence, which will be served under an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision order. The IRCS program allows youth participants access to one-on-one counselling, occupational therapy, tutoring and other specialized services at a cost of $100,000 a year.
Participants in the IRCS program must be guilty of a serious violent offence, suffer from a mental illness or disorder and have a treatment program that case workers believe will reduce their risk to the public. According to court documents, the teen offender has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, adolescent-onset conduct disorder and a mild clinical depressive episode.
According to an agreed statement of facts read out in court, the victim and several family members — including his mother, sister, stepsister, and his pregnant girlfriend — were walking to their car after a concert at Canada Life Centre when the teen offender's girlfriend initiated a verbal dispute with the victim's family and tried to assault the victim's sister.
The offender pulled his girlfriend away to a nearby bus shelter before the girl broke free and charged at the family. She tried to hit the victim's mother with a large vodka bottle.
'It was at this time that (the victim) attempted to assist his family,' Davidson said, reading from the agreed statement of facts. 'He attended to his family and pushed away the accused… who was once again trying to pull his girlfriend from the fray.'
The offender retreated to the bus shelter where he retrieved a folding knife and ran toward the victim, who was still trying to push the accused's girlfriend away from his family.
'(The accused) immediately stabbed (the victim) in his lower abdomen with the knife and the pair fell to the ground, where a struggle ensued between the pair with others attempting to intervene,' Davidson said.
'He was preparing to be the best father for our baby, preparing to give him the best life.'–Girlfriend
The accused stabbed the victim two more times — once to the abdomen, and once to the chest, penetrating his heart. The victim staggered a short distance before falling to the ground. He was taken to hospital, and died days later.
The attack was captured on security video, which was played in court for Court of King's Bench Justice Sarah Inness.
'The video is hard to watch,' Davidson told Inness. 'It is chilling, but it needs to be seen so you can assess (the offender's) moral culpability.
'The severity of those three stab wounds that were inflicted… cannot be understated,' he said. 'Witnesses described (the victim's) intestines falling from his body and being pushed back in by compassionate people who attempted to assist.'
Family members described the victim as a 'kind soul' with a 'big happy heart.'
The victim's mother said she and other family members sat holding his hand as he bled from his wounds and slipped into unconsciousness.
'He tried to talk, was calling to me: 'Mom, Mom,' but sound couldn't get out because he was drowning and choking on his own blood,' the woman wrote in a victim impact statement. 'We were haunted with the moans and the helpless look of hopelessness and despair in his eyes. He knew this was it, this was how it was ending.'
In hospital, family members spent days at the victim's bedside, making sure he was never alone, the grandmother of the victim's girlfriend wrote.
'I watched (family members) cry by his bedside and beg the Creator to save his life, an image I will never forget,' the woman said. 'Most heartbreaking was watching (my granddaughter) place his hand on her tummy and begging him not to leave.'
Most heartbreaking was watching (my granddaughter) place his hand on her tummy and begging him not to leave.'–Grandmother
The offender, slight and looking younger than his age, sat stoop-shouldered in the prisoner's box, looking somberly at the floor for much of the 2 1/2-hour sentencing hearing.
Court heard the offender was exposed to violence and substance abuse as a child, developed his own substance-abuse issues and has a family history of residential school involvement. According to multiple reports provided to court, the teen expressed immediate and ongoing remorse for the killing, a wish he had died and not the victim and has had thoughts of suicide.
According to a pre-sentence report, the teen said his attack on the victim was driven by anger after the victim had shoved him.
Members of the victim's family sitting in the court gallery expressed opposition to Inness taking the offender's Indigenous background into consideration at sentencing.
'I want the court to know that almost everyone sitting here is Indigenous, so I don't think it plays a factor because we have all suffered the same thing and we know right from wrong,' said one man.
'Been there done that,' said another.
'Everyone has choices,' a woman said.
The teen apologized in court, addressing his comments to Inness after the victim's family rejected his request to speak to them directly.
'I'm going to hold a grudge against myself forever,' he said, his voice barely audible. 'I am truly sorry… I am not the same boy you saw that day.'
'I'm going to hold a grudge against myself forever. I am truly sorry… I am not the same boy you saw that day.'
Inness said the teen's violent overreaction to being shoved was 'incomprehensible.'
'It is imperative that he gain further insight into the root causes of his anger and develop coping strategies to ensure he never reacts this way again,' the judge said, adding she found his expressions of remorse to be sincere.
The teen's then 15-year-old girlfriend, who instigated the attack, was charged with assault with a weapon and later sentenced to a period of custody and conditional supervision in the community. The duration of the sentence was not disclosed in court Thursday.
'But for her initiation of the events, it appears that (the teen) would not have committed this offence,' Inness said.
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Dean PritchardCourts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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