Victim’s mother, Crown don’t buy killer’s apology
Teen tells court he has turned his life around since he killed girl
Reading from a letter he prepared for court on Tuesday, the 19-yearold man awaiting sentence for murdering 16-year-old Hannah Leflar said he “can’t apologize enough” for what he did. “No matter how many times I say I’m sorry or say I regret it, it will never fill that space I left you with,” he told a Regina courtroom.
What remains to be seen is what Justice Jennifer Pritchard makes of the youth’s words, with both Leflar’s mother and the Crown dismissing them as showing no true remorse.
Pritchard, legal counsel, the youth and numerous supporters on both sides returned to Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday for closing arguments in the case.
Pritchard reserved decision to July 5, when she will determine whether the 19-year-old will face sentencing as an adult or as a youth — the difference between a life sentence and a maximum of 10 years of custody and supervision.
After his lawyers offered their closing argument, the male — who cannot be named unless sentenced as an adult — looked briefly to his family before launching into his statement, promising to work on bettering himself and assuring those gathered in the courtroom he was “never going to let this happen again.”
The youth went so far as to say he would see to it no one else committed such an act, “not when I’m around to stop it.”
“Believe me, I wish I could have done right the first time, but I wasn’t in a stable state of mind,” he said, adding he would commit to programming to get the help “I ever so desperately needed before this happened.”
“From here on out, I’m going to live my life doing good for Hannah because of what I did to her,” he said.
Describing having talked with religious leaders, the youth referenced a Bible passage about confession and forgiveness and said he likes to think he is now a “man of God” and a “man of peaceful intentions.”
He said while he knew Hannah’s family might never forgive him, he would never stop asking for forgiveness.
Following court, Hannah’s mother Janet Leflar said she would never forgive her daughter’s exboyfriend, adding she didn’t buy his apology.
“Bulls--- is about all I have to say for that,” she said. “There was no actual apology. It was just all about him and how he feels and he’s going to be the superhero and stop crime now.”
Janet Leflar described the twoweek-long hearing as difficult and said she is looking forward to a time when the family won’t need to keep coming back to court.
“It’s been really difficult the last couple of years,” she said. “Every time we walk into court, the scab gets ripped off again, so how do we grieve? I need to grieve for my daughter and I can’t because we keep getting pulled back in, and more evidence coming out, and more people who knew about it and didn’t do anything to try to help. It’s been really disgusting. It’s been really hard to listen to.”
Once this youth is sentenced, the family will have to prepare for a similar hearing slated for the fall for a second male who pleaded guilty to playing a role in the Jan. 12, 2015, murder.
Janet Leflar said she continues to attend court to provide a voice for her daughter, who she described as sensible, funny, smart and “much, much older than her years.”
“If he gets anything less than an adult sentence, that is not justice for our daughter and it’s not justice for us,” she said. “And (it would be) conveying the message that if you’re under 18 you can get away with murder if he’s able to walk away from this with nothing, his name not out there.”
Crown prosecutor Chris White and co-defence counsel James Struthers and Corinne Maeder spent the morning and part of the afternoon debating what sentence the youth should receive and why. Maeder and Struthers argued a youth sentence would be sufficient to hold the 19-year-old accountable, provide rehabilitation and protect the public, while White argued the complete opposite.
“He is a cold, calculating individual who did not see Hannah as a person but rather as a thing that stood in the way of his happiness,” White said, adding the youth’s only real regret is the impact his crime is now having on him.
But Maeder said that’s not the case, stating her client’s expressions of remorse were and are real.
“While many do not care what happens to him, he remains a human being and he deserves to be treated fairly and according to the principles of fundamental justice,” she said. “Our society as a whole would be less without that.”