Digest: R v Henderson, 2018 SKPC 27

• Date: April 06, 2018

Reported as: 2018 SKPC 27

Docket Number: 44667711 , PC17112

Court: Provincial Court

Date: 2018-04-06

Judges:

• Anand

Subjects:

• Criminal Law ��Young Offender�� Second Degree Murder ��Sentencing
• Statutes � Interpretation � Youth Criminal Justice Act, Section 3, Section 72

Digest: The accused was sixteen at the time that she was charged with second degree murder. She had beaten a four-month-old baby to death. The accused had escaped an open custody youth facility and met another young woman who took her to stay at her family�s home until she could find another place to live. Shortly after arriving at this home, she committed the offence. The accused could not explain why she had killed the child except that she was angry about her life. She pled guilty to the charge. The Crown applied under s. 64(1) of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) to have the accused sentenced as an adult. A Pre-Sentence Report, a Gladue report and an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision Order Sentence (IRCS) report were prepared and the accused was assessed by a number of psychologists. The accused had had a troubled childhood. Her mother used alcohol during her pregnancy and rejected the accused when she was born. She was consequently raised on the Montreal Lake Cree Nation reserve by her aunt and uncle, who both suffered from substance abuse problems. A number of people in the accused�s family had attended residential schools. Allegations were made during the accused�s childhood that she was sexually abused by family members. The accused was placed in a foster home and in various group homes. She displayed disturbing behaviours such as engaging in violence towards animals, giving morphine pills to a young cousin, assaulting youths at school and in group homes and threatening staff. The accused was assessed as suffering from FASD. She lacked problem-solving skills and impulse control. Since being held in custody at a youth centre after the offence, the accused was reported as displaying problematic behaviour. The Crown argued that the accused should be sentenced as an adult under s. 72 of the YCJA because her actions showed that she was operating at the maturity level of an adult. The defence suggested that those same actions could be interpreted to mean that the accused lacked maturity and that the psychological reports supported that interpretation. The Crown responded that the presumption of diminished moral...