‘PLANNED AND CALCULATED’
Applause broke out in a La Loche court when a judge ruled the young man who killed four people in 2016 will face an adult sentence.
People clapped in a La Loche courthouse as they learned that the young man who killed four people in a deadly school shooting in the community more than two years ago may face life in prison.
In delivering her decision to sentence the shooter as an adult on Friday, provincial court Judge Janet McIvor said the man, who is now 20, displayed an “incredible level of violence” when he shot two brothers in a home and then opened fire in the La Loche community school on Jan. 22, 2016. He was just weeks away from his 18th birthday at the time.
McIvor said the shooter’s actions that day “were planned and calculated,” that he is a high risk to reoffend and that he did not seem affected when he heard emotional victim impact statements read out at his sentencing hearing last spring. She also pointed to the profound effects the shooting had on the small northern community, noting that substance abuse and suicides increased in the aftermath of the tragedy.
McIvor is expected to deliver further details about the shooter’s sentencing, which could include how much credit he will receive for time already spent in custody, on March 16 in Meadow Lake.
Because the shooter was 17 years old at the time of the offence, his name could not be published during legal proceedings. Despite the fact that he was sentenced as an adult Friday, a publication ban remains on his identity because the sentencing process is not completed.
Defence lawyer Darren Kraushaar told media outside court that he may consider requesting a 30day publication ban on his client’s name on March 16, which would be the time limit for his team to file an appeal if they choose to do so.
“It seems to be that’s a bell you can’t unring if the name is released if there’s going to be an appeal,” he told media.
The shooter was driven up to the La Loche provincial courthouse in an RCMP van shortly before 10 a.m. Friday and escorted through the side door by RCMP officers. He was handcuffed and in leg shackles and appeared to be wearing a bulletproof vest.
RCMP had barricaded the road in front of the courthouse earlier in the morning. Community members who wished to hear the court proceedings were forced to pass through airport-style security to gain access to the courtroom. The small room quickly reached capacity — RCMP said there was room for about 40 people. Media and some community members were unable to gain access to the courthouse.
It wasn’t until someone left court about 90 minutes after McIvor began issuing her sentencing decision that a single reporter — appointed as a pool reporter by the media — was allowed in.
During the shooter’s previous sentencing hearing, which was held in the larger community of Meadow Lake, many community members urged McIvor to sentence the shooter as an adult because of the severity of his crimes.
After Friday ’s decision, La Loche Mayor Robert St. Pierre told reporters McIvor was right to sentence the shooter as an adult.
“That’s the sentence I was hoping for and most of the community was because of the nature of the incident. We’re pleased with the decision. Still, we still got hurt people, we still have people that are angry and upset and it’s still what we’ve got to live with,” he said.
The shooter pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of two brothers, Dayne and Drayden Fontaine, to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of teacher’s aide Marie Janvier and teacher Adam Wood, and to seven counts of attempted murder.
The adult sentence for murder is life in prison. Because the shooter was a youth at the time and is being sentenced as an adult, he will likely be eligible to apply for parole in 10 years, Crown prosecutor Pouria Tabrizi-Reardigan said.
“There’s not a whole lot of wiggle room when it’s an adult sen- tence,” he said.
It was reasonable for McIvor to break up her sentencing decision over two days, he added.
“This was a very complex case with a lot of facts in front of the court, so I think in this particular case it makes sense that one part of the decision — which was adult versus youth sentence — be given on this date and then we’ll be making further decisions about what the actual sentence will look like,” he said.
Kraushaar said next month McIvor will likely decide how much credit the shooter will receive for the time he’s already spent in custody. He said he expects to offer recommendations for where the shooter should serve his sentence.
He said his client was “disappointed” by the decision to sentence him as an adult.
“Obviously he’s disappointed and his family’s disappointed, but he was prepared for this as a possibility, certainly.”
Kraushaar said the shooter was “apprehensive” about returning to the community and facing the people he harmed, but that he “did the best he could.”
It is not clear where the shooter was taken following his court appearance. Kraushaar said he didn’t know and, even if he did, he likely wouldn’t be able to say for security reasons.
Although more than two years have passed since the shooting spree, a motive for the young man’s actions has never been determined. During his sentencing hearing, court heard he was a quiet person who struggled in school and had no prior criminal record.
In an interview with an RCMP officer after his arrest, the shooter denied being bullied, said he had never felt wronged by the school and could not say why he shot the people he shot.
A psychiatrist who testified for the Crown said the teen does not have a psychosis and cannot be conclusively diagnosed with any mental disorders.
However, defence psychiatrist Dr. Mansfield Mela said the teen likely has fetal alcohol syndrome and displays mental disorders and brain functions that “are not adequate or optimal.”
We still got hurt people, we still have people that are angry and upset and it’s still what we’ve got to live with.