Plea accepted in ‘senseless’ killing
Seven year, five month prison sentence for gang member who shot stranger
It was 3 a.m. when Matthew Wells approached the window of his Robinson Street house in Regina to check on a commotion outside.
Six bullets sprayed through the window and hit him, throwing him backwards onto the living room floor where, while his wife and stepchildren struggled to help him, he died moments later.
On Friday, the shooter, 25-yearold Robert Brian Oochoo — originally charged with second-degree murder — pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Referring to the Oct. 22, 2015, incident as a “completely senseless crime,” Queen’s Bench Justice Ellen Gunn agreed to impose the sentence of seven years, five months jointly recommended by Crown and defence counsel.
Prosecutor Chris White provided details of the incident, which began when four members of the Native Syndicate street gang — two adults and two youths — were attending a party in Regina.
The youths left to go “car shopping,” a term for digging through vehicles looking for things to steal. They chanced upon a .22 Ruger, two high-capacity banana clips and numerous rounds of ammunition in a truck. The youths returned to the house to report their find to Oochoo and the other adult, Jason Dustin Hotomanie — their higher-ups in the gang.
Together, the four returned to the truck, White telling the court the adults told the youths to take the gun and ammo.
That done, a decision was made to head over to a house on the 1500 block of Robinson Street once associated with someone considered an enemy of the gang. The problem was, that person no longer lived there. Wells and his family had since moved in.
Oochoo — said to have been under the influence of drugs and alcohol — fired off numerous rounds (police seized approximately 20 shells), with several hitting the victim.
Oochoo and Hotomanie left town, still in the borrowed car, headed for Red Deer where Oochoo admitted to a former girlfriend he was behind the shooting. Oochoo used the same gun to commit a home invasion in the Chaplin area on Oct. 24, 2015 for which he later received more than 6½ years in prison.
Defence lawyer Jeff Deagle said his client’s life had been fairly “on track” until age 13. Among his 22 convictions is another manslaughter, this one from seven years ago while still a youth, Gunn noted. Details of that offence were not presented in court.
Hotomanie and the two youths were previously sentenced for their roles.