‘He wasn’t remorseful’: Widow disagrees with sentence reduction in husband’s death
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The widow of a La Ronge restauranteur who was beaten, robbed and left to die is unhappy with a sentence reduction handed down last week by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
“My heart just sank,” Cora Laich, who now lives in Eatonia, said about learning about the two-year reduction. “I’ve been through lots of stuff with this all, but it just made me realize what Simon’s life is worth. [Simon] gets beat like that and not only did he get a lesser sentence than (what) they were going to do, like 12 years, he got nine years, and now it’s seven years.”
The sentence is in regards to a man, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because he was under 18 at the time of the offence, that was one of three people found guilty of manslaughter in the murder of Simon Grant. During sentencing in May 2019, Judge Robert Lane told the courtroom it was hard for him to think of “a more evil and unjustified attack,” adding the murder was well thought out and included an adult-like plan.
The man argued that the judge erred in finding that he should be sentenced as an adult, and also erred by imposing a nine-year sentence. In the decision for reduction, the appeal judge stated the sentencing judge didn’t consider factors relevant to the sentencing, such as the entering of a guilty plea, the man’s repeated and heartfelt expressions of remorse and his lack of a criminal record.
