A Crown prosecutor is asking for 10 years in prison for a man who shot at police officers at a home in rural Sturgeon County, while defence counsel is seeking five and a half years, with three years of probation.
On Wednesday afternoon, Justice John Henderson of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton heard submissions from both the Crown and defence counsel for Destry Sayine, who was charged after shooting at police officers in 2018.
In February Sayine entered five guilty pleas to charges he faced from the incident. Sayine pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm at a person with intent to wound, maim, disfigure or to endanger the life of. He also entered guilty pleas to possessing a firearm without a licence, assault, breaching a recognizance by possessing ammunition, and possessing a weapon while under a mandatory weapons prohibition order.
Sayine originally faced charges of attempted murder of six RCMP officers, and a slew of other charges.
On May 19, court heard in an agreed statement of facts police were called to a house in Sturgeon County at around 5 a.m. on March 18, 2018, after Sayine and his father got into a physical altercation.
When RCMP responded, they were told Sayine had been drinking and was suicidal.
When the RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT) arrived at around 8:45 a.m, Sayine was in the garage with his girlfriend. The ERT officers entered the garage to attempt to ensure the safety of both Sayine and his girlfriend.
At 9 a.m., members of the ERT entered a smaller room in the garage and were able to remove Sayine's girlfriend.
The officers saw Sayine at the top of the garage stairs and asked him to come down.
"The accused was becoming increasingly agitated and yelling, including indicating that he was not afraid and that he had been shot before," the statement of facts read.
As police moved to the doorway between the smaller room in the garage and the larger garage space, Sayine fired a gun toward the doorway where officers were positioned.
"The accused shot toward the doorway with a prohibited firearm. Police members heard between six to eight shots in quick succession," the statement read.
Officers moved back into the small room in the garage without discharging their firearms, but threw a canister of gas into the large garage space. Police said Sayine fired one or two more shots.
ERT members took cover behind a police vehicle until a tactical vehicle arrived on the scene.
Sayine ultimately surrendered peacefully at around 1:40 p.m.
Police searched the garage and found a semi-automatic .22 calibre long rifle.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Crown prosecutor Patricia Hankinson said the aggravating factors in the case are that Sayine used a prohibited weapon, and he fired at peace officers. Sayine has a criminal record that includes violent offences. At the time, he was bound by a recognizance, and he assaulted his father before the police arrived.
Hankinson said the mitigating factors in his case are that he pleaded guilty before the matter went to a trial, he expressed remorse, and he has a desire to seek counselling for his trauma and addictions. Sayine also has a family history of intergenerational trauma, physical abuse, and substance abuse. Members of Sayine’s family were forced to attend residential schools.
A Gladue report filed in court said Sayine was raised by his paternal grandparents until the age of 11, and his grandmother was a residential school survivor who suffered abuse and came to rely on alcohol.
“Destry stated his parents were also in residential school and he is the first generation to not go to residential school. Destry advised residential school impacted many of his family members deeply and a lot of his family members struggle with addiction issues,” the Gladue report read.
“Destry shared, while in residential school, his family members were prohibited from speaking their language and experienced physical and sexual abuse,” the report read.
Through his childhood, Sayine, who is from a Dene community in the Northwest Territories, was sexually and physically abused and tried to protect his sisters from the same abuse.
“Destry said he would look after his sisters in the bedroom to make sure nobody hurt them the way they hurt him,” the report read, adding the older brother would look out for his sisters and he would often get them ready for school in the morning.
During his childhood, Sayine was left alone for long periods of time.
Defence counsel Andrew Phypers said Sayine’s childhood and family history needs to be taken into account when deciding on a sentence.
“I'm asking this court to look at those considerations and to take a three-year probationary period, to give Mr. Sayine the tools that he needs,” Phypers said, adding he would have access to support through probation.
“He said he's expressed the willingness to go to treatment,” Phypers said.
Phypers said Sayine is a person who needs help and he has been struggling to rise above his circumstances and break the cycle of abuse in his family.
“He's got the skills. He's an intelligent guy. This court has the ability to craft an individualized sentence … that really will work, that will keep this guy from being before the courts again,” Phypers said.
Sayine will get credit for time served in pretrial custody for 1,952 days, and both the Crown and defence have asked the court to take into consideration the difficult circumstances of being locked up during COVID-19.
Sayine said he has been locked up 23 hours a day since March 2020, when COVID-19 began.
“I understand (what I have done) is not great and I do need some kind of help moving forward,” Sayine said.
“But I can assure you that I will find the help that I need.”
Henderson will deliver his decision in the case on May 28 at 9 a.m.
