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Convicted murderer gets six months for assaulting guard

Aug 9, 2017 | 5:00 PM

A Calgary man serving a life sentence for murder will be serving two sentences simultaneously for the next six months after he pleaded guilty to attacking a guard at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.

Deng Keror, who was convicted and handed a life sentence in 2015 for the second-degree murder of 24-year-old Philip Anny, was given a concurrent six-month sentence this afternoon by a Prince Albert judge. Keror, now an inmate at the Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon to attacking a guard while he was incarcerated in Saskatchewan.

Crown Prosecutor Tyrel Taylor said staff at the federal prison were waiting for inmates to lock up Feb. 8 when Keror punched a guard twice in the face in a sudden, unprovoked assault. Keror tried to run away after the attack, Taylor said, but was quickly pepper sprayed, handcuffed and removed from the cell block.

Keror, who appeared in court yesterday over a video link without a lawyer, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault. Judge D. Albert Lavoie handed Keror a six-month sentence which will be served at the same time as his ongoing life sentence.

While the concurrent sentence will not have any real impact on his time at the institution, Keror raised concerns over the $100 fine Lavoie ordered him to pay as part of the sentence. Lavoie explained that he is required to impose the fines by law, and assured the convicted killer that it is unlikely he will ever be called upon to pay it.

Keror, who will not be eligible for parole until at least 2028, laughed out loud as he left the video courtroom.

 

–With files from The Canadian Press

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews