‘Red flags all over’ in case of offender who helped kill teen, parole officer says
Presented with a brief description, a Correctional Service Canada employee said she saw numerous “red flags” in the case of a youth awaiting sentence for his role in the stabbing death of 16-year-old Hannah Leflar.
“I’d be very concerned,” parole officer Kelly Lato said, when asked what her position would be were she asked to take on the file. “There’s red flags all over.” Lato testified Thursday at a sentencing hearing to determine whether a 19-year-old man — 16 at the time of the Jan. 12, 2015 murder — will be sentenced as a youth or as an adult.
An adult sentence would draw a mandatory life term with no parole eligibility for seven years.
Court heard earlier this week there are two options should Justice Lian Schwann opt to instead impose a youth sentence, both of which would allow no more than seven years split between custody and community supervision.
One is to sentence him in the regular way, and the other is to impose an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision order, which uses federal funding to provide extra resources and is intended as an alternative to an adult sentence.
On Thursday, court heard about some of the programming available through the adult federal system where the youth, in the event of an adult sentence, would initially be placed in maximum security because of his seconddegree murder conviction.
Co-Crown prosecutor Chris White put a “hypothetical” to Lato, based on the case as it stands: a youth with a childhood containing abuse and neglect who, at 16, participated in the killing of a girl who he considered a friend.
The offender wasn’t the main player in the death, nor did he wield the knife used, but rather participated in the lead-up and attempted coverup, and was present at the time of the stabbing.
White added the offender had no criminal record and was involved in school, that he had a job, a girlfriend and some “pro-social supports.”
Since the stabbing, the offender has been diagnosed with depression and has shown some insight into the offence and his issues, White added.
Lato said, presented with that scenario, she would immediately look to have a mental health team come on board as the offender in the Crown’s scenario would be what she termed a “high-risk offender.”
Before putting together any sort of correctional plan, she said she would want to see a psychological assessment exploring the red flags she observed.
In her opinion, “there’s more than a depressive offender here,” she said. “There’s something there that needs to be assessed and looked further into.”
Lato said the federal prison system has high-intensity programming available that she expected would be used in a case like this, intended to address a number of risk areas with a view to eventual safe reintegration in the community.
Such a program could be completed within a limited time — providing the youth was willing to work hard and take responsibility for his offence.
“It’s up to the offender,” she said. “We can’t make the offender do anything. It’s like that saying: ‘You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.’ ”
Skylar Prockner, who committed the stabbing of his exgirlfriend, has already received an adult sentence, which he is appealing.