Gang member gets 5 years for cutting off captive’s finger tip
An accusation of trying to switch gangs cost a Saskatoon woman the tip of her finger — and almost her life.
The 20-year-old woman was confined in a Terror Squad house on Avenue S South and beaten for six hours based on a belief that she was trying to leave the gang, Crown prosecutor Frank Impey said during a sentencing hearing in Saskatoon provincial court.
Raylene Sewap, 21, admitted cutting off the woman’s fingertip on July 24. She pleaded guilty on Thursday to aggravated assault and unlawful confinement and was sentenced to five years in prison — a joint submission from the Crown and defence.
Impey said the sentence reflects the element of torture and its connection to a criminal organization. Sewap also has a history of violence, although her lawyer, Brooke Johnson, said this is her client’s most serious offence.
Court heard Sewap and fellow Terror Squad members blocked the door so the victim couldn’t leave.
One woman threatened to chop off her hand, but settled on a finger.
Sewap tried to saw off the woman’s pinky with a machete while two others held her down. She was only able to sever the fingertip, Impey said.
The woman was eventually let go and went to a hospital. Court heard she was reticent to identify her attackers because the Terror Squad women threatened her and her family.
Before she was sentenced, Sewap told court it was just her and the victim in the house.
“I did this. I’m paying the consequences for what I did,” she said.
The Crown does not accept that Sewap was the only person involved, Impey said. Several coaccused are charged and still before the court.