Officer hopes sentence ‘sufficient’
CARROT RIVER — The RCMP officer targeted in a highly orchestrated sniper attack six years ago hopes the two-year jail sentence imposed on the perpetrator “will be sufficient.”
“We’re happy the person responsible has been found guilty,” said Const. Greg Toogood, who sat in the gallery of Carrot River provincial court Thursday with his wife and fellow officers.
“We’ve got to respect that decision. ... I hope the sentence will be sufficient. I hope that decision will be best for everyone.”
The shooter, who was 16 at the time, changed his clothing, wore plastic bags on his shoes and wiped off the gun he used to conceal his involvement. He was deemed less mature and morally responsible than an adult by Judge Barry Morgan.
Following submissions last October from the Crown and defence, as well as victim impact statements from Toogood and his family, Morgan announced his decision Thursday in provincial court.
In handing down a youth sentence, Morgan cited several factors, including the offender’s lack of moral maturity and his lack of other offences before or since the 2006 incident.
The shooter, whose name is banned from publication under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, had pleaded guilty to using a firearm while committing an indictable offence, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and intimidating a justice system participant to impede him in the performance of his duties. He was also convicted of discharging a firearm with intent to wound.
Toogood required eight reconstructive surgeries, several years of intense physical therapy and skin grafts. In an earlier victim impact statement from Toogood’s wife, Morgan noted the family keeps their blinds closed at night and any knock on their door still sends her heart “racing.”
Crown prosecutor Tom Healey had argued for an eight-year adult prison sentence, noting the serious nature of the crime, the premeditation involved and the years of denial by the accused following the incident. Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle argued for a three-year youth sentence.
The man will spend two years in a provincial correctional facility, following by one year of probation in the community.
“A youth sentence will be sufficient. ... A youth sentence must be imposed,” Morgan said.
The offender, now 22, sat in court Thursday alongside numerous friends and family, showing no visible emotion as Morgan read excerpts from his 26-page written decision. He offered apologies to Toogood and his family during previous court appearances, but did not speak in court Thursday. He declined to comment following court.
Pfefferle said he and his client agree with Morgan’s written decision, adding everyone involved feels badly for Toogood.
Pfefferle said that his client deserved a youth sentence and that the irrational act was “a youth acting like a youth.”
Toogood, who now works as an RCMP instructor in Regina, said he is unsure when or if he and his family will be able to put the incident behind them.
“I don’t know there ever will be closure. It’s been hard physically, emotionally,” he said. “We’ve made adjustments and we will continue to for the rest of our lives.”
Toogood’s arm was shattered by a bullet on Jan. 16, 2006, after he opened the back door of his home to find out why his dog was barking. He underwent multiple surgeries to repair the physical damage.
The young man had previously taken part in a liquor theft from a home in Carrot River. He admitted his involvement to Toogood less than two weeks before the shoot- ing, then became concerned about his father finding out, according to an agreed statement of facts previously presented in court.
Hoping to make the problem go away by scaring Toogood into leaving town, he snuck home from a friend’s house, dressed in black clothing and a ski mask, covered his shoes with plastic bags to obscure his footprints and walked down an alley to the officer’s house carrying his father’s 30.06-calibre rifle, which was fitted with a hunting scope.
He hid at the rear of a neighbouring home and fired a single shot at Toogood, fled the scene, wiped the gun down and put it back in its usual place before changing clothes and returning to his friend’s house.
A dog track led investigators to consider the young man a suspect in the shooting from an early stage, but police were unable to gather enough evidence to charge him until more than five years later.
Undercover RCMP officers drew him into an elaborate “Mr. Big” sting operation in which they convinced him that the powerful boss of a criminal organization could arrange to make it impossible for police to prove his involvement in the shooting — as long as he explained exactly what had happened.
They set up a meeting between the young man and the fictitious crime boss in a Regina hotel room in March 2011. A hidden camera and microphone recorded his confession and he was arrested a short time later.