Regina Leader-Post

Hannah’s loved ones speak of loss

‘Monsters are real and they look like people,’ mother tells hearing

- HEATHER POLISCHUK

Speaking through tears inside a Regina courtroom, Janet Leflar recalled the sound of her teenaged daughter Hannah laughing as she played video games or watched YouTube videos with a male friend.

Janet told the court she knew the then-16-year-old boy came from a troubled home, and so they would often invite him to stay for supper.

On Monday, Janet glared periodical­ly at the now-19-year-old man who went from being Hannah’s friend to one of two males responsibl­e for her murder.

“Monsters are real and they look like people, and the most dangerous monster is the one that comes disguised as a friend,” Janet said.

The 19-year-old is in the midst of a hearing that will decide whether he will face an adult life sentence for second-degree murder, or a youth sentence carrying a maximum seven years split between custody and community supervisio­n.

While the male didn’t wield the knife that ended Hannah’s life, court heard he stood by as his lifelong friend Skylar Prockner stabbed Hannah — Prockner’s exgirlfrie­nd — to death. Prockner, who was also 16 at the time, was previously handed an adult sentence which he is appealing.

As they did at Prockner’s hearing, Hannah’s family addressed the court through victim impact statements, providing details about the girl they loved and the gaping wound her murder continues to cause them.

Janet’s husband Wade Anderson spoke about arriving home after work on Jan. 12, 2015, to find his stepdaught­er lying in a pool of her own blood.

“I am unable to stop thinking about how terrifying her last moments must have been: the pain, the confusion, terror, shock from being stabbed, gasping for air with no one there for her, no one to comfort her, no one to reassure her and no one to hold her,” Wade said.

“She died alone and scared,” he continued.

Justice Lian Schwann and the sometimes-tearful 19-yearold listened to statements from 13 family members and friends, many expressing similar thoughts as to the horrific nature of the death of a 16-year-old girl they described as kind, intelligen­t, ambitious and a light in their lives.

“Hannah is the first thought when we wake up and the last thought before we go to bed, and all the thoughts throughout the day,” said Hannah’s stepmom Lore, reading a statement on behalf of herself and Hannah’s dad Jeff Leflar.

Lore spoke about Hannah’s compassion­ate and caring nature, her love of horses and art, and her dreams of becoming an electricia­n.

And she talked about the days made empty by Hannah’s absence.

“Hannah was and always will be the light of our lives,” she said.

“We lost everything due to an extreme selfish and cruel act.”

Heather Josephson, cousin-inlaw to Hannah’s dad, said it was the 19-year-old’s “lack of action” — his failure to stop his friend and his willingnes­s to be a party to the murder — that disturbed her the most.

“You betrayed Hannah in the worst way possible,” she said, noting the 19-year-old took advantage of Hannah’s friendship to spy on her for Prockner in the time leading to the murder. And then, she said, “You did nothing, nothing but watch as Hannah’s blood flowed and her life faded ... What you have done is unforgivab­le.”

For Janet, it’s that ultimate betrayal that hurts and angers her the most.

She noted Prockner was not alone as he stalked Hannah, but rather had the 19-year-old at his side.

Janet said they encouraged Hannah to drop the then-16-year-old as a friend.

In the end, it wasn’t enough. “The shock and heartbreak of her murder has been made so much worse by the fact that the young man we welcomed into our home and ate with us at our kitchen table was the one to set her up to be alone that day, playing on her tender heart,” Janet said.

“He did nothing less than usher her to her death.”

You did nothing, nothing but watch as Hannah’s blood flowed and her life faded ... What you have done is unforgivab­le.

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