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By Glynn Brothen

Indefinite prison sentence

Dangerous offender status for man behind attack at Sask. Penitentiary

Mar 5, 2024 | 3:00 PM

A man with a history of violent assaults and stabbings in northern Saskatchewan received an indeterminate prison sentence after the courts declared him a dangerous offender, seeking to protect the public from his persistent violence.

Myles Sewap’s most recent violent offence involved the planning and execution of a stabbing and beating at Prince Albert’s Saskatchewan Federal Penitentiary in April 2021. He received a four-year jail sentence for the attack, but from the incident, Crown petitioned the court to have Sewap declared a dangerous offender.

Reception of that designation carries with it an indefinite prison sentence and effectively claims incarceration is the sole option as the prisoner cannot be rehabilitated or have their behaviour corrected and poses a danger to the public.

In the Court of King’s Bench written decision, Justice Brian Scherman said the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Sewap, 32, displayed “a pattern of persistent aggressive behaviour… that displays a substantial degree of indifference respecting the reasonably forseeable consequences to other person’s of his behaviour.”

In the litany of assaults documented within the decision’s text, Scherman highlighted Sewap’s assault against his own brother, his stabbing of a cousin and another member of the Pelican Narrows band. Also within Sewap’s history of 43 convictions are multiple assaults, assaults with weapons, and robbery. He also committed one of his assaults while released on parole.

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In his decision, Scherman cited testimony from two doctors who reviewed Sewap’s psychiatric reports and assessed him. While one doctor noted there have been no correctional programs that addressed Sewap’s cognitive impairments and low IQ, Scherman noted there were no programs suggested, or associated timelines. The defence argued Sewap was never diagnosed as having a psychopathic personality.

Scherman wrote he was not satisfied a lesser measure of sentencing would protect the public “of murder or a serious personal injury offence.”

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panews@pattisonmedia.com