Last guilty man in Red Earth killing receives 9 years

Whitehead entered his guilty plea to manslaughter almost a year ago. The delay in his sentencing is related to a special report that lays out the adverse impact of cultural factors Whitehead experienced as an aboriginal man, called a Gladue report.

On Friday at Prince Albert Court of Queen’s Bench, Justice Lyle Zuk explained which of those systemic factors led to Whitehead being in court.

Mckay’s parents were present, and at times could be heard audibly sniffling and crying in the courtroom.

Red Earth First Nation is an impoverished community that struggles with high unemployment and domestic issues, Zuk said.

Whitehead’s parents themselves were alcoholics and his father died in 2002, meaning he was raised mainly by his sister.

In the report, Whitehead’s sister had said the children witnessed violence in the home.

He’d been “banished from Red Earth after charges were laid,” Zuk said.

Zuk acknowledged these factors, and said defence lawyers are not required to establish the connection between the offence and the guilty party’s upbringing.

He stated that Whitehead’s common-law wife, two children, and success in classes he’d taken in Prince Albert since Mckay’s death act as mitigating factors.

Zuk told Whitehead that while he accepts that Whitehead wishes this terrible event had never happened, incarceration is needed for the “terrible crime.”

In the end, the Gladue report for Whitehead, which had not been ordered for either of the Head brothers, didn’t change the sentence Whitehead received.

Family from both sides of the case were crying in the courtroom after the sentencing.

Whitehead faces a liftime weapons prohibition and must submit DNA samples.

claskowski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk

by Chelsea Laskowski

Last guilty man in Red Earth killing receives 9 years

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