Teenager who beat man to death handed rare sentence

Terming it a “dreadful set of circumstances,” a Regina Court of Queen’s Bench judge handed down a rarely used sentencing option to a youth who admitted to beating a man to death in 2015.

The 18-year-old — who, with no previous criminal record, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 43-year-old Clayton Cyr — cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act since he was 16 at the time.

Taking into consideration the near-two years the youth has spent on remand, Crown prosecutor Sonya Guiboche and defence lawyer Dave Andrews proposed a sentence of 2½ years going forward. (The maximum sentence for manslaughter under the YCJA is three years.)

The sentence is broken down into one year secure custody, six months open custody and one year of conditional supervision in the community under an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) order. Andrews said he understands IRCS sentences have only been used 27 times before.

An IRCS sentence differs in that it provides a youth with more intensive programming and supervision while in the community as a means to deal with the factors that led to a crime, so as to prevent future offending.

Justice Timothy Keene agreed to impose the sentence, telling the youth he hopes he will take advantage of opportunities provided — not least of all to do what he can to atone for what he’s done.

Court heard the youth had been on a drinking and drug binge and was at an older friend’s house in Punnichy on June 2 and 3, 2015, as was Cyr.

Cyr, who had also been drinking, was asked to leave and a verbal confrontation turned physical, with the youth pushing Cyr off an outside deck.

Cyr fell and didn’t move, seemingly unconscious. But that didn’t end the matter, Guiboche telling the court the youth began punching and kicking the defenceless man.

The youth then helped drag the beaten man inside a shed on the property.

In what Guiboche called a “clear act designed to both humiliate and degrade,” the youth shaved off Cyr’s eyebrows while being videotaped, thinking it would be funny if Cyr woke up like that.

But Cyr never woke up. Guiboche said the youth went once in the early morning to try to rouse the man, pouring water on what a pathologist later determined would have been Cyr’s dead body.

Later that morning, the youth was awakened by others in the house, telling him Cyr was dead. After going to confirm it, the youth panicked and left, but was arrested several days later.

A pathologist found Cyr died of blunt-force trauma, having suffered broken ribs and excessive internal bleeding that would have caused death within an estimated 20 minutes. Even with timely medical intervention, his death likely would have been unavoidable, court heard.

Members of Cyr’s family were present in court and provided victim-impact statements that described the impact of the loss — doubled by the death of Cyr’s father just four days later.

“This pain will never go away...,” read one statement by Cyr’s sister Colleen. “You took two lives, not one.”

Court heard the youth has a history of depression and has attempted suicide in recent months. Guiboche and Andrews referenced a psychological report that spoke to his remorse, stating “he wishes he could change places with Clayton.”

Andrews said his client comes from a background in which he was exposed to substance abuse and violence, adding this sentence forms “the best chance for this young man coming out of this and being a better person.”

Referencing letters of support for the teen, Keene noted the youth’s family tried in the past to tell him he was on the wrong path, but he didn’t listen.

“Maybe he will listen now,” Keene said.

The sentence is broken down into one year secure custody, six months open custody and one year of conditional supervision.