Brothers jailed 12 years for ‘depraved’ attack on teen girl
“Unmitigated evil.”
Those are the words Crown prosecutor Jonathan Hak used Friday to describe the behaviour of rapist brothers Corey and Cody Manyshots, minutes after they were sentenced to 12 years in prison for a brutal attack on a Calgary teen.
“Certainly one of the most depraved offences that I’ve ever been involved with,” Hak said outside court, when asked how the case compares to other crimes he’s prosecuted.
“Just unmitigated evil, frankly,” he said.
Hak said although the Manyshots weren’t eligible for a dangerous offender bid by the Crown, he suspects they will be back before the courts some day.
“The reason why a dangerous offender application would not work in a case like this, is this was effectively their first crime of dangerousness, so it seems odd, but you actually need a history — a pattern of violence in order to declare someone a dangerous offender.
“They may well be dangerous offenders in the future, depending on what type of conduct they engage in when they get out of prison.”
The prosecutor said while the brothers could seek parole in as little as less than three years, he expects they will serve close to their entire terms.
“The reality is they will probably serve much closer to 12 years … because of the circumstances of this offence and because of their personal characteristics and the likelihood of them re-offending in the future,” Hak said.
“We need to keep them in jail as long as possible, because of community safety.”
Provincial court Judge Terry Semenuk accepted Hak’s sentencing submission for a total punishment of 12 years.
With credit for time spent on remand, Cody will have to serve another seven years and 10 months, while his brother has seven years and three months remaining, Se- menuk said.
He said while their tragic upbringing and Indigenous backgrounds were factors in determining a fit punishment, that only reduced the sentence from something even higher.
Both defence lawyers Alain Hepner and Mitch Stephensen had sought lesser sentences based on their clients’ past.
“These two men fell through the cracks of life,” Hepner told Semenuk last October. “They didn’t stand a chance from the minute they were born.”
In sentencing submissions, law- yers detailed the many problems the brothers have faced, from alcohol and drug abuse to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), which has left them with severe cognitive deficits.
The brothers pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, sexual assault causing bodily harm, robbery and uttering death threats after they abducted a 17-year-old girl off a residential street in Calgary on Nov. 14, 2014.
They grabbed the teen at a bus stop and took her to a nearby alley, where they both sexually assaulted her.
They then forced her to walk 20 minutes to their home, where they kept her for hours and repeatedly raped her.
The crime had a significant effect on the northeast community of Taradale, where the victim was abducted.
“We wanted to continue showing our support for the survivor of the horrible crime,” said community resident Karine Ruiz, who attended the sentencing hearing.
“It was a horrific crime in our neighbourhood.”
Hepner, who represented Cody Manyshots, said he will review the sentencing decision with his client’s family before determining if an appeal is warranted.
“They’re a little upset,” Hepner said of the brothers’ parents, who attended the sentencing hearing.
“I will talk over with the family about a sentence appeal. . . I’m not saying that’s going to happen.”
Stephensen declined to comment.
The reality is they will probably serve much closer to 12 years … because of the circumstances.