A local resident who was 16 at the time of the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy was given a sentence for manslaughter using a firearm in provincial court June 12.
The resident, who cannot be named or identified according to a court publication ban, was given an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) Order, said BC Prosecution Service communications counsel Dan McLaughlin.
The young person must serve 45 days in open custody followed by 17 months under supervision, and perform 10 hours of community service, said McLaughlin.
“Both work together to achieve the goals of rehabilitation and reintegration,” he said, referring to the open custody and supervision.
A sentence of intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision may be imposed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for a youth found guilty of one of the most serious offences, such as murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, aggravated sexual assault or a third offence involving causing or attempting to cause serious bodily harm, said McLaughlin.
A youth receiving this sentence is placed in a facility that has more rehabilitative resources than an ordinary custody facility; the order for intensive rehabilitative custody can only be made if a “plan of treatment and intensive community supervision” has been developed and the provincial director consents, he added.
The sentence includes a period of conditional supervision in the community, subject to stricter legal controls than for a youth released on community supervision following the custodial portion of an ordinary order of custody and supervision, said McLaughlin.
“Open custody” means custody in a community residential centre, group home, child care institution, or forest or wilderness camp or any other place or facility designated by thee Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province as a place of open custody for the purposes of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, he added.
On Feb. 10, 2015, Terrace RCMP reported being called to a residence on Molitor Street Feb. 9 at approximately 10 p.m. where they found a 15-year-old youth suffering from a gunshot wound.
The youth was transported by BC Ambulance to Mills Memorial Hospital where he later succumbed to his injury, said police at that time.
A 16-year-old Terrace youth, who was also at the residence, was taken into police custody, said RCMP.
It ws believed that the two individuals knew each other and the public was not at risk as a result of this incident, said police.
