A Senior Crown Prosecutor from Prince Albert says she will be recommending that the sentences given to three youth charged in the freezing death of an Ahtahkakoop man be appealed.
25 year-old Christian Bird was found clinging to a piece of ice on Sandy Lake on May 1st of 2011.
He was eventually pulled from the water but did not survive.
Four people were charged in the death.
Three of them, all of whom were under the age of 18, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death.
They received sentences between 6, 9 and 10 months incarceration, followed by differing periods of open custody and a year probation.
Atkinson had been asking for more:
“The maximum you can get is three years closed custody under the youth criminal justice act and that’s what we had asked the court to give so I will be recommending to our head office an appeal and it will be up to head office to determine whether or not there are sufficient grounds or not.”
According to Atkinson the Crown’s theory is that the boys and the adult male chased Bird into the water and threatened to hit him with large sticks if he came out:
“The four individuals, the three youth and the adult, basically chased Mr. Bird towards the lake that’s at Ahtahkakoop and it’s the crown’s theory that Christian Bird entered the lake to get away from the individals. The individuals were on the shoreline carrying large sticks, making threats of further beatings if he came out of the lake.”
A passer-by eventually summoned an RCMP officer who was already responding to a noise complaint.
Bird was eventually pulled from the water but it was too late.
The adult charged in the case is set to undergo a preliminary hearing in late January.