Mike on Crime

By Mike McIntyre
Winnipeg Free Press

Chris Sigurdson has never seen anything like it.
The veteran Winnipeg defence lawyer was involved in an emotional sentencing hearing last week in which almost an entire Manitoba First Nation community — including members of the victim and killers’ families —— came together under one roof to share hugs, tears and a common belief that gang violence must stop.

“It was quite remarkable and very moving. The court is a room in the band office, and it was just packed. They were turning people away at the door,” Sigurdson said Wednesday.

Two young men, who were 17 at the time of the June 2007 killing and can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. They admitted beating 22-year-old Scottie Mason to death with a baseball bat and golf club in St. Theresa Point. Five co-accused remain before the courts on related assault charges.

The killers were members of the so-called “Soulja” gang, while Mason was affiliated with the rival “Locolz” gang, court was told. The two groups have been fighting for several years and are responsible for numerous serious attacks in the remote community, located nearly 500 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Mason was found on the road in a pool of his own blood following the mob-style attack. He was air-lifted to the Health Sciences Centre but died three days later of massive head trauma. The beating occurred only hours after the First Nation shelved its band constable police program. The RCMP detachment is 19 kilometres away, across water which is difficult to navigate at night. St. Theresa Point Chief David McDougall appeared at last week’s sentencing hearing and made a passionate plea for peace, according to Sigurdson.

“He talked about the scourge of gangs and how it’s torn the community apart,” he said. “Most of the people in the room were crying.”

Sigurdson said the sentencing hearing began with a prayer from a community elder and included heartfelt speeches from Mason’s father and uncle. “They said they couldn’t forgive and couldn’t heal until they saw the two boys (take responsibility). They said now they can start,” said Sigurdson.

Relatives of the two young killers also spoke up and apologized to Mason’s family.

“There was lots of hugging between the families. It seemed to be some genuine healing going on,” said Sigurdson.

The community isn’t ready to entirely forgive and forget – band members recently passed a resolution that bans both killers from returning to St. Theresa Point. The youths have both spent the past two years in custody, which was given time-and-a-half credit of three years. They were then sentenced to an additional 30 days behind bars.

Sigurdson said both men have no prior criminal records but became entrenched in the gang lifestyle that has plagued the community. He said they both plan to live in Winnipeg with other family members once released from jail. “The band has basically said they’re all members of the same community but they can’t return yet until the healing is done,” said Sigurdson.