Tim Petruk
A Salmon Arm woman sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years for the 2008 murder of her boyfriend was granted escorted temporary absences in the community.
Now 28, Monica Sikorski was 17 when she plotted the shooting death of a 22-year-old man with whom she was involved romantically.
Tyler Myers was found dead in a Salmon Arm schoolyard. Court heard Sikorski arranged for her other boyfriend, a 16-year-old classmate, to obtain a gun and ambush Myers.
On Nov. 21, 2008, Sikorski met Myers and walked him into the Bastion Elementary schoolyard, where the 16-year-old gunman was hiding in a stand of trees.
The teen shot Myers once from the trees, then emerged and delivered two additional shots, including one to the back of Myers’ head at the urging of Sikorski.
The gunman, who cannot be named because he was sentenced as a youth, was in 2017 sent to prison for six years. Sikorski can be named because she was sentenced as an adult.
During the gunman’s trial, Sikorski was described as the mastermind behind the plot to kill Myers. She was painted as manipulative and controlling. The judge described the gunman as an emotionally vulnerable teenager.
After the murder, the romantic relationship between Sikorski and the gunman dissolved. Sikorski then began dating Myers’ best friend.
Read more: Judge gives killer a youth sentence
Read more: Accused man describes how and why he shot and killed Tyler Myers
Read more: Was Tyler Myers’ killing premeditated?
Sikorski and the gunman were not arrested until 2012, following an elaborate RCMP Mr. Big operation. The undercover investigation targeted Sikorski. Officers posing as high-ranking gangsters convinced her she was being recruited into a powerful criminal organization. She confessed her part in Myers’ murder to an undercover Mountie she thought was one of the gang’s leaders.
According to Parole Board of Canada documents, Sikorski will be allowed on escorted temporary absences from prison until September 2020. The documents state the absences are for personal development, but the reason behind them is redacted.
While on absences, Sikorski will not be allowed to consume or possess drugs, alcohol or tobacco. She will also be barred from having any contact with any of Myers’ relatives.
Another condition requires Sikorski to report all intimate relationships to her parole supervisor.
She is expected to become eligible for parole in 2023, the same year the gunman is slated to be released from prison.
Sikorski was sentenced in December 2016 and apologized in court to Myers’ friends and family, many of whom were in the gallery.
Donna Linklater, the common-law spouse of Myers’ deceased father, refused to accept Sikorski’s apology.
“I thought it was a false apology,” she told KTW at the time. “She could have come forward two days, two weeks, two months after and said she was sorry and she didn’t.”
Barbara Myers, the victim’s mother, said at the time she was happy with the apology and the outcome.
“I’m satisfied with it,” she said. “What made an impression on me is Monica addressed me personally and expressed her heartfelt remorse.”
Myers said she hugged Sikorski’s mother prior to the sentencing hearing.
“I have no hard feelings toward her family,” she said. “They’re good people. I feel bad for the family.”
