Violet Abraham, mother of slain local Kyle Daniels says she and her family are disappointed with the sentencing hearing of the youth who took the her son’s life.
Kyle Daniels, was stabbed to death on Feb. 19, 2011 while visiting his father in Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan, by a 17 year old male (now 18) who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice act. The youth pled guilty to a charge of manslaughter on July 11, 2012.
The defendant, who was sentenced to seven years in jail, will be housed in a juvenile facility until he turns 20 in January 2014. He will then be moved to an adult penitentiary to serve the remainder of his sentence. And then he will have, says Abraham, only be six years to serve with the possibility of release in just three years.
“I was so mad because we were hoping he would have to serve at least 10 years but it’s just six years now and only three years before he could get out, and our whole family is disappointed about that.”
The seven year sentence was agreed upon jointly by Crown prosecutor Will Collins and defense lawyer Douglas Andrews. The defendant has a significant criminal record and had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in 2009. He had stopped taking his medication two months before killing Daniels. But Abraham believes the circumstances call for a longer sentence.
“After he did this [crime], he took off back to a house and partied again. Then he told a woman what he’d done to my son. He didn’t stay at the scene or turn himself in, he just threw the knife into someone’s back yard and went partying,” she said. “I was hoping he’d get at least 25 years because of what he did to Kyle, how many times he stabbed him [19] and everything. I think it’s [the sentence is] below normal, I think he should have got a longer sentence. Because I lost my baby. I lost my friend. He was supposed to be back the next day and he was killed that night. He had a bus ticked in his pocket.”
Final sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 28 2012, but Abraham does not hold out much hope that justice will be done.
“They asked for a victim impact statement from all of us. From my kids, all them that are having a hard time, from my parents, and my brothers, they all gave an impact statement. We sent it two weeks ago. It seems like it didn’t make any difference,” she said.
“My entire family and friends are disappointed in the way they handled it.”
Kyle Daniels body was brought back to Burns Lake and is interred here at home. His headstone feast will take place in September.
