Three-year prison sentence sought for brazen daylight beating

REGINA — The Crown is seeking a 3½-year prison term for Rene Laliberte for his involvement in a vicious daylight attack that left a man hospitalized with two broken arms, a cracked spine and head injuries.

Although five men were involved in the May 18, 2011, assault on 34-year-old Bradley Papequash at the corner of 20th and Avenue D, only Laliberte, 31, has been convicted in the case.

During the attack Papequash was beaten with a baseball bat and a steel pipe before the assail- ants fled the scene in a truck.

Although he did not himself strike Papequash, Laliberte was identified driving the group’s getaway vehicle on footage captured by a liquor store surveillance camera near the scene of the crime.

Crown prosecutor Lori Chambers asked for a stiff sentence because of the “brazen” nature of the attack and Laliberte’s past convictions for violent crimes, among other factors.

“Mr. Laliberte’s involvement allowed the other individuals responsible for the actual beating of the victim to escape,” Chamber said. “No other individuals have been brought to justice for that.”

Defence lawyer Wanda Tow-

“HE FACILITATED THE ENTIRE EPISODE,”

JUSTICE RON MILLS

stego asked that Laliberte be given a 12- to 18-month sentence, on account of his difficult personal and family circumstances.

She said Laliberte’s family has been deeply scarred by experiences at the Duck Lake Residential School, and that he suffered sexual and other abuses there as a child. He is also a former opiates addict, she said, who has been on methadone for the past five years.

Towstego said Laliberte’s family lives in “an area you would call the ’hood” and has been the target of violent attacks since the incident.

“One of his children has been shot,” Towstego said. “Their house has been shot at after this incident and windows have been broken.”

Justice Ron Mills said Laliberte’s personal history with residential schools had little bearing on the crime in question. Furthermore, he said, no justification for the attack was offered to the court in Laliberte’s defence.

“What we have here in the middle of the afternoon on a busy Saskatoon street, five thugs decide Papequash will be singled out to be tuned in for what appears to be no apparent reason, at least none has been explained to me yet,” he said.

Mills said he was leaning toward a stiffer sentence because of the brazen nature of the attack.

“Although he wasn’t participating in the actual physical beating, he facilitated the entire episode,” Mills said. “This to me puts this in the top end of the scale.”

Laliberte was escorted into the courtroom chained at the wrists and ankles. In his final statement to the court, he said he felt remorse for the incident.

He has already served 210 days in remand since the incident.

Laliberte is expected to return to court Jan. 25 for sentencing.