Four-year sentence for participant in fatal beating of stranger

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This article was published 17/03/2023 (1267 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 24-year-old who took part in the “unprovoked and senseless” fatal beating of a homeless man in a Sherbrook Street alley more than a year and a half ago will be imprisoned for four years.

Provincial court Judge Kelly Moar sentenced Kadin Seth Young to serve 32 months and 21 days for manslaughter in his role in the slaying of Peter Louis Bogaki, 52, who died Aug. 2, 2021. Young pleaded guilty to the charge last year.

Isaac Nicholas Richard-McKay, 21, did the bulk of the beating that ultimately took Bogaki’s life while Young stood by and watched, court was told Thursday. Eventually, Young took a running start and kicked the victim in the back.

“This was a two-on-one beating by men who were considerably younger and stronger than the victim. The accused kicked the victim while he was laying on the ground in a defenceless position at which time the victim posed no risk to anyone,” Moar said while issuing his decision.“This is nothing short of gratuitous in nature.”

Winnipeg police arrested Young and Richard-McKay for aggravated assault several hours after they beat Bogaki so severely early July 31, 2021, that he ended up in the Health Sciences Centre with several skull and spine fractures, broken ribs and bleeding in his brain.

Bogaki died two days later and the two assailants were re-arrested while at the Winnipeg Remand Centre. Young was charged with manslaughter and Richard-McKay was charged with second-degree murder.

Bogaki, who was homeless, had left a shopping cart of his belongings near a fence in the alley behind 610 Sherbrook St. When he returned to his cart at about 4:26 a.m., he saw two men rifling through it — Richard-McKay and Young, friends who lived at two nearby transitional housing facilities.

After an initial altercation, the two men and Bogaki all walked away, but minutes later, the pair returned with another friend because Richard-McKay thought he had left his backpack in the alley.

After exchanging words, Richard-McKay pushed Bogaki to the ground and punched him repeatedly, before getting up to kick and stomp on his head, court heard.

Young then kicked the victim. They left Bogaki on the ground, where he remained until a staff member from Young’s housing facility saw him at about 7:45 a.m. and called for paramedics and police.

The beating was captured on surveillance tape. Both accused were drunk at the time.

Young’s defence lawyer, Wendy Martin White, had sought a conditional sentence of one to two years to be served at the Behavioural Health Foundation in Winnipeg, where Young has been living and participating in programming while out on bail since last June. Crown attorney Shane Smith had sought five years in prison.

Court heard Young, a member of Bloodvein First Nation, had a difficult upbringing, including many years spent in foster care. His mother died when he was three years old, and his father struggled with alcoholism.

Young had been assessed to have an IQ of between 65 and 69 — the average is considered to fall between 85 and 115 — and has a mild intellectual disability.

His lawyer previously told court he will require assistance when living in the community for the rest of his life. While on bail, he has been progressing with programming and remained sober for 18 months, court heard.

Richard-McKay pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Court of King’s Bench in December. Crown and defence lawyers are expected to jointly recommend Justice Ken Champagne sentence him to 10 years in prison at a hearing in April.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera