The mother of a man killed in La Loche doesn’t think the co-accused received a long enough sentence.
Curtis Eklund received a six-year sentence in a Meadow Lake court yesterday.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of Matthew St. Pierre, after originally being charged with second-degree murder.
St. Pierre was killed by two blasts from a sawed-off shotgun in La Loche in broad daylight on June 6th, 2010.
In December, Richie Keanan Herman, Eklund’s brother, received a life sentence with no chance of parole for 12 years for the killing.
St. Pierre’s mother, Annette Montgrand says Eklund should have received more time for handing the gun to her son’s murderer:
“It’s a slap on the fingers. It’s almost giving authority to anybody. It’s authorizing anyone out there, if you’re Aboriginal, you probably have the freedom to do what Eklund did — and probably get away (with it) the same way.”
Crown Prosecutor Lloyd Stang sympathizes with her grief. But he says it was the right charge, and the right sentence, in the circumstances:
“Certainly, it doesn’t do anything to help the family alleviate their grief and sorrow they’ll be dealing with over this incident. But as far as the legal proceedings are concerned, I was convinced that a manslaughter plea was an appropriate way to resolve this matter.”
Montgrand is also upset with the defence lawyer in the case.
During yesterday’s proceedings, defence counsel Marcel Simenot said St. Pierre belonged to a gang.
St. Pierre’s mother says that was inappropriate:
“It’s not enough that my son’s life is taken, like an animal, shot down in broad daylight . . . the defence lawyer would blacken his character in the manner that he did. It’s just not acceptable in my heart.”
Simenot was unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, Eklund says he is taking steps to leave the gang lifestyle behind him and is telling his story in hopes of keeping other kids out of gangs.
He wishes someone had warned him when he was a kid:
“I should have known about the consequences or the outcome, like I know now. But because I know this now, I can help someone else to know about it before he gets into gangs.”
Eklund’s story will be published in a gang prevention book set to come out this spring.