By Derek Cornet

Hearing adjourned after judge finds ‘grave concerns’ in victim impact statement

Nov 26, 2018 | 3:57 PM

The sentencing hearing for a young man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the murder of Simon Grant was unexpectedly adjourned this afternoon after alarming details were shared in a victim impact statement.

The hearing to determine whether the young offender should be sentenced as an adult began with Crown prosecutor Ruth Fafard outlining the case with the agreed statement of facts. She said Grant and his wife, Cora Laich, first met the individual, who can’t be named due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, in May 2016 after they learned he was sleeping in a tent near Louisiana’s Bar-B-Que in La Ronge. The relationship between Grant and the young offender, who was 17-years-old at the time, continued until a disturbance in April 2017 caused the two to go separate ways.

Court heard how not long after the relationship ended, the offender encouraged two other people, who have since been sentenced, to rob Grant with him, which began with an unexecuted robbery the night of Grant’s death. On April 15, at around 10 p.m., Fafard noted a food order was made to the restaurant for delivery, but Grant never showed up with the order.

Shortly after 11 p.m., Fafard said the young offender and two accomplices entered the business with masks and armed with a baseball bat and unloaded pellet guns. The three attacked Grant, and at one point, covered a camera so it couldn’t record what was happening. It was revealed Grant reached up and pulled a mask off one of his attacker’s face and addressed the crew as “boys” before the assault escalated further. The offenders took what they could from the business, Grant’s vehicle and cash, a cellphone, keys and credit cards from his clothing.

An employee of the restaurant was still at the business when the attack occurred. He quickly called 911. When paramedics arrived, Grant was still conscious but confused, and lost a large amount of blood. Grant later succumbed to his injuries days later at a Saskatoon hospital with the cause of the death being multiple blunt force trauma.

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As the court hearing moved into the victim impact statement portion, it wasn’t long before Judge Robert Lane became concerned about some specific details read in one. It talked about how the offender acquired animals and allegedly killed them prior to Grant’s death. Lane subsequently reordered psychiatric and psychological reports be done on the matter as those issues weren’t addressed in what was already submitted in court.

“I’m gravely concerned. I really am,” Lane said. “It does speak loudly for the issues of public safety in the future.”

Lane also said the information wouldn’t hold weight against the sentence the offender will receive, but could benefit him in addressing some of the mental health issues he could have. The matter was adjourned until Dec. 13.

In an interview with larongeNOW after the adjournment, Laich said she was shocked by the turn of events, adding it was completely unexpected. She noted today was supposed to be a critical last leg of the proceedings, but now it will continue for another two or three more months.

“I just can’t see how a youth sentence would be handed down,” Laich said. “There’s a lot of culpability, there was a lot of planning, there was a motive and put that all together, I just can’t see how there would be a youth sentence.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno