2 men given sentences to be served in community for assault on rural property near Melfort, Sask.
Peter Mclean and Adam Mclean pleaded guilty in April to assault causing bodily harm
Warning: this story contains distressing details and vulgar language.
Two men who assaulted a 45-year-old man at a rural farmyard near Melfort, Sask., in August 2022 have been sentenced to two years less a day for assault causing bodily harm, with the rest of the charges against them being stayed.
The victim, Chris Hawkins, died in a Melfort hospital about a month after being assaulted. A recent coroner's report from the Saskatchewan Coroners Service linked the cause of death to alcohol abuse. It acknowledged the assault, but wrote there is no evidence that trauma played a role in Hawkins's death.
Peter Mclean, 60, and Adam Mclean, 36, were charged with aggravated assault in early 2023, but pleaded guilty in April to the lesser offence of assault causing bodily harm.
Police said the two men are related, but would not say how they are related.
The judge sentenced the men based on a joint submission from the Crown and defence.
Both men received conditional sentences of two years less a day, to be served in the community rather than jail. The sentences come with strict conditions that include a gun prohibition, no alcohol, cannabis or narcotics, and following a curfew.
After that, Peter will have 12 months of probation and Adam will have two years of probation. Both men also must do 200 hours of community service.
Both men originally faced more charges: Peter was charged with uttering threats and Adam was charged with assault with a weapon. Both men were also charged with forcible confinement. All of those additional charges have now been stayed.
Court shown video of assault
Sections of a video of the assault were shown in court. Hawkins's family and their supporters could be heard sobbing and gasping as it played.
CBC obtained a copy of the video from Hawkins's sister, Shanda Tansowny.
In the video, it's daytime. Hawkins parks his grey Cadillac in the middle of a large yard, with farm equipment parked off to the side.
Shortly after that, Peter drives into frame, parks just behind Hawkins and approaches him.
Peter is yelling profanities at Hawkins while standing beside the Cadillac, asking why Hawkins is in the yard and instructing Hawkins to hand over his keys. Peter then tells Hawkins he's "not going anywhere" and is "going to be hurt" if he moves.
Another truck pulls into frame and, a short time later, parks in front of Hawkins's vehicle, preventing him from driving forward. A few minutes after that, Adam pulls up in his truck, walks over to Hawkins, then wrenches him from the vehicle and onto the ground.
"What the f–k are you doing in my f–king yard?" Adam yells, before punching Hawkins several times.
When Adam has finished, the standing men pace around the vehicle as Hawkins lies limp on the ground. The truck parked in front of the Cadillac leaves and only Peter, Adam and Hawkins remain.
"F—king broke into so many f—king times by f—cking lowlifes like you," Adam says to Hawkins as he paces.
As the two try to learn who Hawkins is, they make comments about killing Hawkins, who has remained on the ground.
"Shoot the f—ker," the two say in tandem.
Peter speaks on the phone with someone and makes a comment about hanging Hawkins, before apologizing to the caller that he's "worked up."
About a minute later, Adam reaches into the Cadillac, grabs a wallet and learns the man lying on the ground is Hawkins. Peter and Adam then begin kicking, punching and stomping on Hawkins. Adam throws the wallet at him.
As Hawkins lies on the ground, Adam slams the car door and says Hawkins is "not going anywhere." Less than a minute later, Peter winds up and delivers a hard kick to Hawkins's back, who is still lying on the ground.
A few minutes later, Peter grabs what is later identified by police as zip-ties from the back of his truck, ordering Hawkins to get "on your f–king belly, b—h. Hands behind your back."
Peter aggressively tightens the zip-ties around Hawkins's wrists.
As Hawkins lies on his belly beside the Cadillac, his hands tied behind his back, Peter makes a comment about using a track hoe to bury Hawkins. Police arrive about a minute later in a marked vehicle.
The ordeal, from when Peter arrives to when police arrive, takes about 16-and-a-half minutes.
Trial judge said video made him 'so angry'
The trial judge, Lloyd Stang, heard victim impact statements from Hawkins's former spouse, his father and his sister, Tansowny, who read them to the court gallery, sobbing throughout.
She spoke about how Hawkins's son has fallen into depression, and her father's sadness at the halted nightly calls between himself and Hawkins.
"He was my baby brother and my only sibling," Tansowny said, looking back and forth between Peter and Adam.
"No human life deserves to be treated like that."
Crown prosecutor Lori O'Connor said the ideal situation would have been if the Mcleans had turned Hawkins around and sent him away. She called what happened instead "vigilante justice."
Peter's defence lawyer, Mark Brayford, said that while the Mcleans acted illegally, Hawkins was trespassing and should have been detained for police.
Both Adam and Peter apologized for their actions in court. When Adam apologized specifically to the family, Tansowny responded "thank you" from the gallery.
In his sentencing decision, Stang said "that video made me so angry."
He said the actions of the men in the video were in "stark" contrast to the more than two dozen reference letters their defence counsel presented that described them as kind and compassionate.
Hawkins has been described as having mental health issues and suffering from alcohol abuse. Stang said Hawkins's actions appeared to show a man in need of help who went looking to farmers for assistance.
"He knows farmers are good people," Stang said.
Stang said had there not been a joint sentence submission, he would have taken Peter and Adam's dishonesty with police about what happened that day into consideration in his decision.
Hawkins's sister investigated attack, likely led to charges
Tansowny, Hawkins's sister, has previously told CBC Hawkins struggled with mental health issues, including schizophrenia.
Months before Peter and Adam Mclean's arrest, Tansowny obtained the video of the assault.
She provided it to the RCMP about a week before she submitted a complaint with the Civilian Review Complaints Commission (CRCC), an independent agency that investigates complaints about RCMP members' conduct.
The investigator, Sgt. Rob Nicholas, found two officers were negligent in their duties.
In response to Tansowny's CRCC complaint, RCMP Staff Sgt. Conrad Logan wrote that without the video evidence Tansowny provided, "the vicious assault on your brother may not have been discovered and criminal charges would most likely not have been laid."
The RCMP document outlining the investigation details the assault at the farmyard, owned by one of the assailants, through the eyes of the responding officers and video from the police cruiser.
It says police officers were called to the yard for a trespassing complaint and found two men standing over Hawkins with his hands zip-tied behind his back. The document says Hawkins was bloodied and swollen. He was brought to the police cruiser and then to the Melfort Hospital.
Family says sentencing brings some closure
On Monday, Tansowny said she was happy with how the sentencing had gone, but that there's sadness as well.
"We have a lot of grieving to do as a family for sure, and we've sort of had to delay that for two years because of the legal system and the judicial system," Tansowny told reporters.
"But I'm really happy. Of course there was a part of me that was angry and wants to have the wall thrown at them. But at the end of the day, all I want is for people to be better.… I want, when they see someone on the ground, I want them to lend a helping hand. I want them to say 'are you OK,' or 'is there anything else I can do for you?'"
Tansowny said Monday's sentencing has brought her some closure, although she admitted that watching the video in court was difficult.
"I'm not going to lie, it gets harder every time. My worry really is for his son, because his son has never seen it and, and my dad had never seen it," she said. "I sort of kept it private to protect them."
Tansowny is choosing to be optimistic, saying everyone handles grief differently and the video may bring some closure.
As for some of the charges being stayed, Tansowny did not directly give her thoughts to the media. She said there are three sides to what happened the day of the assault.
"The only difference was I had the truth in a video, and that was what I wanted the judge to see before he made his decision," Tansowny said.
"I just wanted the truth to be out there. I want the community to understand that my brother was ill, my brother had addictions that were very, very difficult, and that his family tried for 25 years to get him the help that he needed so that we could have my brother back."
Tansowny said she hopes the family can now move on and heal.
Corrections
- A previous version of this story said that Hawkins died in a Saskatoon hospital. In fact, he died in a Melfort hospital.Jul 16, 2024 12:46 PM CT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Laura Sciarpelletti