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The intensive rehabilitative sentence proposed for a Morley teenager who fatally stabbed a neighbor in the heart will reduce his chances of re-offending, his lawyer told the court on Wednesday.
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Defense lawyer Vignesh Pillai said the joint three-year term offered by himself and Crown prosecutor Kaitlyn Perrin would help the youth reintegrate into society.
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The lawyers both told Provincial Court Judge Susan Pepper that the intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision (IRCS) order they were proposing would be an appropriate punishment for the teenager.
The youth, now 17, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the stabbing death of Morley resident Nathaniel Jake Beaver. He was originally charged with second-degree murder in the killing on June 2, 2021.
Pillai said the treatment program recommended by the IRCS team during a sentence of two years in custody and one under community supervision would be best for the public.
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“That treatment will reduce the risk of the young person reoffending,” Pillai told Pepper.
“We are looking for the maximum three years that can be ordered.”
Under the Juvenile Justice Act, the maximum sentence for manslaughter is three years, consisting of two years of detention and one of supervision.
Pillai told Pepper his client could claim a non-IRCS sentence and get credit for the time he spent in custody before his sentencing hearing.
But he said the offender, who cannot be named under the YCJA, was willing to undergo the more intense rehabilitation program under an IRCS order.
“The defense is not seeking pretrial credit for this young person,” the attorney said.
“The treatment plan does require the full three years.”
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Pillai said the program should benefit the offender, “which will hopefully maximize (his) rehabilitation and reintegration.”
He said that a non-IRCS sentence would actually be easier on the offender, who “essentially cannot do any work for his rehabilitation.”
“He will be expected to put in the effort and work to succeed in this.”
According to an agreed statement of facts read by Perrin, the youth, then 16, went to Beaver’s family home at around 9.30pm on the day of the offense after an earlier altercation with the deceased’s older brother, Wahrmun Snow , had.
“Nathaniel Beaver answered the door,” Perrin said.
“The young person stabbed Nathaniel Beaver once with a knife in his upper right chest and then in the left.”
The wound pierced both Beaver’s lung and heart.
Pepper adjourned sentencing until December 7 to prepare written comments to accompany her decision.
“I want to think about what I’m saying to both families,” she said.
KMartin@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
