Crown seeks 12-year term for Olympic Plaza killing

A drunken attacker who slashed and stomped an innocent man to death in Olympic Plaza should go to prison for 12 years, a Crown prosecutor told court Thursday.

But a defence lawyer argued William Littlechild’s extreme intoxication at the time of the crime and his difficult First Nations background call for a six- to eight-year term. With time already served in remand, it would mean no more than an additional two years behind bars.

Littlechild told Court of Queen’s Bench his time spent in the Edmonton Remand Centre has made him a different man than the one who, on July 26, 2013, brutally assaulted Robyn Gladue, who died of a knife slash to his neck.

“This is where I’ve learned I must take accountability for my actions,” said Littlechild, who also expressed his “great sadness” for Gladue’s family and friends.

“The awareness of my issues has been uplifting and has brought hope into my life today … I’m not the same person I was when I committed this crime.”

But Crown prosecutor Samina Dhalla said the viciousness of the assault, captured in an eightminute surveillance video showing Littlechild returning twice to kick, stomp and stab a prone Gladue after the victim had already been fatally stabbed by the killer, requires a stiff sentence.

“The accused behaved cruelly and without compassion to a profoundly injured man … it’s multiple stabs, it was prolonged.”

Gladue, she said, was minding his own business when Littlechild showed up in downtown Calgary’s Olympic Plaza and a verbal confrontation ensued, followed by the stabbing and subsequent attacks.

But defence lawyer Kathryn Quinlan noted a jury in March had rejected a bid to convict the 24-year-old of second-degree murder and found him guilty instead of manslaughter, due to his extreme drunkenness when the stabbings occurred. And she said his abusive, drug- and alcohol-riddled upbringing on a First Nation at Maskwacis, Alta., also played a role.

The Crown argued the video showed Littlechild’s dexterity in stabbing, kicking and stomping Gladue.

Justice Richard Neufeld is to hand down a sentence Sept. 20.