By Thia James

Man found guilty in brutal murder-sex assault case

Dec 6, 2013 | 11:35 AM

A man facing a first-degree murder charge in the brutal sex assault and killing of a 33-year-old woman has been found guilty at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Prince Albert on Friday.

John Thomas Peter Shaoulle of Wollaston Lake, Sask. received an automatic life sentence after Justice Gerry Allbright delivered his guilty finding. Shaoulle will serve 25 years of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, and he can apply to have his sentence reduced after 15 years.

Allbright found Shaoulle guilty of killing Margaret Sewap in Prince Albert. Two people looking for a secluded place to use intravenous drugs found her naked body in the early morning of April 8, 2011 behind the Bolt Supply House on 17th Street East. The two reported their discovery to the Prince Albert Police Service.

Sewap had been viciously sexually assaulted, which left her with extensive injuries. Shaoulle then strangled her to death soon after. Then, Shaoulle tried to burn her remains, leaving Sewap with first to third-degree burns to 18 to 25 per cent of her body.

“Margaret Sewap died a violent and horrific death,” Allbright said. He said the perpetrator chose to attempt to burn her to inflict further indignity.

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During the course of their investigation, the Prince Albert police secured security footage from the National Hotel’s lobby. It showed that on the evening of April 7,
Shaoulle and Sewap were briefly in the lobby. That was the last time anyone other than Shaoulle would see her alive.

Allbright, during his near two-hour judgement, called this video “poignant.”

“She was walking towards her final hours,” he said. It was the discovery of the video that first set investigators in Shaoulle’s direction.

In the days following Sewap’s killing, Shaoulle went home to the mother of his child, Joy Charles in Sturgeon Lake. He was away from home the day of the killing, she testified, and she noticed that he was behaving strangely and his borrowed jacket smelled of something burnt. Charles noticed scratches on Shaoulle’s arms, which he told her came from being handcuffed and taken to the “drunk tank.”

It later came out in court that the officer that attended to the Brief Intoxication Centre at Victoria Hospital did not handcuff him. Shaoulle went to the intoxication centre looking for a bed in the early hours of April 8.

At home, Charles said the laundry couldn’t be done because the water truck didn’t arrive for two days, causing Shaoulle to be agitated. When the water truck did arrive, he threw everything but his jacket, including his gloves, into the washing machine.

They were the same gloves that Shaoulle would try to set on fire when the police brought him in for questioning.

Allbright told the court that he found Joy Charles to be a “compelling, credible witness.”

“There’s nothing in her evidence that I reject,” he said.

Shaoulle would return to Prince Albert, and the police were on the lookout for someone matching his description – based on the video footage from the National Hotel. He was spotted in the Gateway Mall and arrested.

During their investigation, the police took a DNA sample from Shaoulle to compare to fingernail cuttings they had earlier taken from Sewap. The testing concluded that Shaoulle`s DNA was under her fingernails. Senior Crown prosecutor Jeff Lubyk had argued that his DNA got under her nails as a result of the struggle with Shaoulle. It was a submission that Albright accepted.

He said his “overwhelming conclusion” was that the transference came through a violent altercation, and he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt it was Shaoulle she struggled with.

After he pronounced Shaoulle guilty, the now-convicted man bowed his head as the Albright proceeded to sentence him. After he was sentenced, Allbright asked him if he has anything to say.

Shaoulle silently shook his head “no” from side to side. He was otherwise expressionless throughout the sentencing.

Outside of the courthouse, Lubyk said justice was served for Margaret Sewap.

“In terms of our theory and then what we presented to the court, in terms of the evidence that was available … we thought that he made the right decision, he drew the correct inferences and we were satisfied with the verdict.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames