'I am remorseful': Dale Stonechild sentenced to 15 years for killing of Victor McNab
With credit for time served, Stonechild's remaining sentence will be 8 years and 5 months
Dale Murray Stonechild has been sentenced to 15 years for the killing of an 84-year-old Regina man.
A judge handed down the sentence in a packed courtroom on Friday.
"I am sorry in my heart. I am remorseful," Stonechild said during Friday's sentencing.
"This is something I have to live with. All I can say is I'm sorry."
Stonechild, 62, was convicted last year of manslaughter in the January 2013 slaying of Victor McNab.
He has been in custody since he was arrested and, with credit for time served, his remaining sentence will be eight years and five months.
Attack was a 'near murder'
Members of the victim's family were present for the sentencing.
"They've lost a loved one and there's nothing that can change that, so it's difficult for them to see anything other than their grief and I think their grief is still speaking for them," Fitz-Gerald said.
The judge said there was no disputing the brutality of Stonechild's offence.
According to the judge's written decision, Stonechild went to visit McNab, a long-time friend who was "like a parent to him" at McNab's home on Rae Street on Jan. 8, 2013.
Both men had been drinking when McNab made a comment that triggered a violent outrage in Stonechild.
The judge's decision said that Stonechild later disclosed that McNab told him he had a relationship with his mother at one point and was being a "rude old man."
Stonechild used McNab's cane to beat him 20 to 30 times, leaving 20 lacerations on his face.
He also stabbed McNab a total of 14 times in both the chest and abdomen, 12 times with a knife and twice with a screwdriver.
One of McNab's eyes was crushed, and the other was knocked out of its socket. When his lifeless body was found the next morning draped over a chair at 5:30 a.m., his back had been broken.
Fitz-Gerald said on Friday that the number of injuries McNab sustained and fact the attack happened in his home supported the judge's characterization it was a "near murder."
'He has a lot of healing to do'
The defence had wanted no prison time for Stonechild. Instead, they called for a restorative justice approach, which would involve Stonechild undergoing "intensive counselling."
That counselling would include taking part in spiritual ceremonies like sweat lodges, going into the bush and fasting for multiple nights, and preparing for a Sun Dance ceremony.
The latter ritual would see Stonechild's chest and back pierced with pieces of wood, about the size of half a pencil, which would then be ripped from his skin —something the judge said the court couldn't agree to because it compels an offender to physical abuse.
Defence lawyer Mike Buchinski called the judge's decision disappointing, but said Stonechild feels relieved.
"He's relieved that this part of his life is over. Certainly, bittersweet. He had a very good relationship with Mr. McNab, the victim, but I think that he's ready to move onto the next part of his life."
"He has a lot of healing to do," said Buchinski.
63 convictions, 11.5 years already served
The judge's decision references the pre-sentence report that found Stonechild had an 80 per cent chance to re-offend within a three-year period, which is considered high.
Stonechild was also found to be making home brew while on remand at the Regina Correctional Centre.
The judge called his criminal history "extensive." He has 63 criminal code convictions from 1972 to 2010, which span three provinces and are under four different names.
Stonechild has already spent 11-and-a-half years behind bars for violent offences, including four years for aggravated assault back in 1984.
Stonechild is a residential school survivor
According to the decision, Stonechild's parents broke up when he was five years old, during the period he was attending Gordon's Residential School. Stonechild, who was at the school from 1961 to 1968, is a third-generation residential school survivor.
Stonechild was expelled in 1968 and said he was abused physically, sexually and emotionally.
He had no problems with law from 1994-2004 and attended school in Saskatchewan and British Columbia to study fine arts. Stonechild wasn't drinking at the time.
The decision stated he started drinking again after receiving his residential school settlement in 2004.
With files from Adam Hunter