Man, 27, sentenced to 10 years for his role in fatal beating
A man who beat another man in the head with a baseball bat and left him dying in a ditch was handed a 10-year sentence Tuesday.
Austin Southworth, 27, earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter after initially being charged with second-degree murder in the death of Brad MacDonald of Nova Scotia.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Doreen Sulyma said she found Southworth was “truly remorseful” for his role in MacDonald’s death, and granted him enhanced credit for time already served in custody, which will knock just over two years off his sentence.
MacDonald, 37, was found dead near Stony Plain Road and Winterburn Road on April 10, 2016.
According to an agreed statement of facts entered with the court earlier this month, a group of men, including Southworth, came up with a plan to attack MacDonald after they were solicited to fight him over a debt he owed to a sex worker.
However, court heard the woman, who spent a night with MacDonald in his hotel room where he offered her cocaine in exchange for sexual favours, became agitated and contacted a male friend for help when she learned MacDonald didn’t have any money to pay her.
On the night of April 9, Southworth and his friends were drinking and doing drugs when they settled on a plan and then carried it out: they invited MacDonald to a party, then drove around with him in a truck before stopping in the ditch.
When MacDonald tried to run, the men caught him and beat him violently.
At some point, Southworth began beating MacDonald with a baseball bat, hitting him in the head, court heard.
The men fled in the truck, but turned around and went back to steal MacDonald’s wallet.
MacDonald was reportedly still breathing when they robbed him and left him to die. No one called for help.
The men took off in the truck again, wiping down the baseball bat before tossing it out the window.
A passerby found MacDonald’s bloodied body the next day.
Investigators later located the baseball bat a few kilometres away; MacDonald’s DNA was on it.
A beer can recovered near the scene had Southworth’s fingerprint on it.
Southworth will also be subject to a lifetime weapons prohibition, and was ordered to submit a sample of DNA to a federal database.