Man jailed for home invasion
Gang member pleads guilty, gets 5 years
As masked gang members entered a Saskatoon home, intent on robbing a drug dealer who wasn’t there, a terrified resident called 911.
“There’s nothing here, man. There’s nothing here, man. There’s nothing here, man,” the man repeatedly told the invaders while on the phone with the 911 operator.
The audio recording of the call, played in court at a sentencing hearing for one of the perpetrators, continued with sounds of yelling and screaming, then moaning.
“Are you still there?” the operator asked. There was no response. On Tuesday, 20-year-old Jessey Leighton Schlyter pleaded guilty in Saskatoon provincial court. Like his two co-accused who pleaded guilty before him — Anthony Charles Ewenin, 20, and Michael Warren Oksasikewiyin, 22 — Schlyter was sentenced to five years in prison.
On May 8, 2014, the three men, wearing black bandanas and yelling “Terror Squad,” used baseball bats to beat two residents of the home in the 1800 block of 20th Street West. A fourth person participated in the home invasion, but was never identified.
“Police confirmed that up until the date of the offence, somebody dealing drugs was living there,” Crown prosecutor Melodi Kujawa said in court.
“But unfortunately for the people residing in that residence on the 8th of March, they were not this individual.”
A police officer was only a few doors down from the home when the 911 call came in, and he was able to grab one of the attackers as they fled. Two other officers responding to the scene captured two more men, while the fourth escaped.
In addition to the 911 call, Kujawa described a terrifying scene, including the moments when a woman who was visiting the home had a knife pulled on her when she tried to go to her children in another room.
Schlyter was released on bail after the home invasion. Just two months later, on July 23, 2014, he participated in robbing another young man of his jewelry, watch and a cellphone. He was arrested again and was held on remand after that.
Kujawa and defence lawyer Chris Lavier jointly recommended Schlyter’s five-year sentence for the home invasion, plus one year for the robbery, which Judge Brent Klause accepted.
In court, Lavier described how Schlyter became involved in gangs. His mother was a street worker and his father was violent toward her and his children, Lavier said. Schlyter lived with his grandmother until she became ill when he was 10 years old, then was placed in foster care, where he bounced from home to home, and from school to school.
“He feels like he didn’t have a lot of options other than to live a life the streets provided for him, with security through his associations,” Lavier said.
Schlyter remembers watching family members do drugs since he was very young, and he started using marijuana when he was eight, then drinking alcohol by the time he was 12, Lavier said, adding it was “normal” in Schlyter’s home for family members to steal from each other so they could get their fixes.
Minus credit for his time on remand, Schlyter has five years, two and a half months left to serve on his sentence.
“HE FEELS LIKE HE DIDN’T HAVE A LOT OF OPTIONS OTHER THAN TO LIVE A LIFE THE STREETS PROVIDED FOR HIM, WITH SECURITY
THROUGH HIS ASSOCIATIONS.”
CHRIS LAVIER