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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Young killer faces 9-year adult term
RONNIE Kakegamic had just finished telling his grandmother he loved her when he was stabbed to death by a stranger less than two blocks from home.
Now the Winnipeg youth who committed the deadly April 2010 attack has taken responsibility and will be given an adult-size punishment.
The accused, 17 at the time of the stabbing, pleaded guilty to manslaughter this week. He also agreed to be raised to adult court, where Crown and defence lawyers will make a joint recommendation later this spring for a nine-year sentence. As a youth, he would have faced a maximum of only two years behind bars for the offence.
"He waives any rights he has as a youth and agrees to serve his sentence as an adult," prosecutor Dan Angus told court. The youth was originally charged with second-degree murder, but Angus said the teen's extreme intoxication at the time led to the reduced charge.
Kakegamic, 21, had just left his grandma's Flora Avenue house and was walking near the corner of Pritchard Avenue and Powers Street when the killer approached. An argument broke out even though they didn't know each other. Kakegamic was stabbed at least four times -- in the eye, cheek, arm and chest. He suffered massive blood loss and died in hospital later that night.
"He was a beautiful boy," his grandmother, Nora Fiddler, told the Free Press at the time. "He'd always come here and say, 'I love you, kookum.' " Kookum is the Oji-Cree word for grandmother.
She said her grandson had fathered three children and he and his girlfriend were expecting a baby. Kakegamic was getting life-skills training and treatment for addictions, and had struggled with gang involvement over the years but was trying to get out, she said.
-- Mike McIntyre
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 7, 2013 A9
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