Adult sentence for Red River Ex teen shooter

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This article was published 30/05/2023 (830 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg youth who was just eight days shy of his 18th birthday when he shot two boys at the Red River Exhibition last June has been sentenced as an adult to 5 1/2 years in custody.

Mocree Chuck Scatch-Dubour was one of three teens initially arrested in the daylight shooting that sent frightened fair-goers scrambling for cover.

Scatch-Dubour previously pleaded guilty to one count each of discharge of a firearm with intent to wound, aggravated assault, and possession of a restricted firearm. Crown and defence lawyers had jointly recommended he be sentenced as an adult.

“There is no evidence or reason to believe that had circumstances unfolded as they did eight days later that he would have reacted any differently than he did or that his thinking processes and critical thinking would have been any different than they were,” provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson said Tuesday.

Court heard Scatch-Dubour, a self-described “higher up” in a city street gang, was armed with a gun when he attended the June 2022 exhibition with his 15-year-old girlfriend and another 17-year-old male, knowing he might cross paths with a rival gang member with whom he had been clashing via social media.

Scatch-Dubour and his rival did meet and, following a heated exchange, agreed to fight in the washroom area.

When the youth said something Scatch-Dubour interpreted as a threat to his girlfriend, Scatch-Dubour pulled out a gun and shot the youth in the right side of his abdomen. The bullet exited his body and struck an 11-year-old boy in the buttocks.

Scatch-Dubour and his two companions fled in a taxi and were arrested a short time later.

The 11-year-old boy was treated in hospital and released. The 17-year-old victim underwent surgery and, in a pre-sentence report prepared for court, said he “almost died.”

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, youth are considered to be of “diminished moral blameworthiness,” compared to adults. To persuade a court to impose an adult sentence, prosecutors must successfully “rebut” that presumption and satisfy a judge a youth sentence is of insufficient length to hold an offender accountable.

Carlson said Scatch-Dubour showed “foresight and planning” in arming himself prior to going out.

“He went to the Red River Exhibition fully expecting, based on social media exchanges, that people who had a beef with him would be there looking for him,” Carlson said. “To that end, he made the decision to take a fully loaded firearm with him.

“Although he acted quickly when he was threatened and became angry, his behaviour overall was not really impulsive behaviour,” she said.

“He planned for what could happen. His choices were conscious choices made by someone who was gang-entrenched, wanting to address his beef with a rival gang member.”

Court heard Scatch-Dubour has a family history of violence and substance abuse and was raised in foster care. He has been diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, cognitive deficits and depression.

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Scatch-Dubour has shown progress in custody and remorse for his young victim but remains a danger to the community, Carlson said.

“Mr. Scatch-Dubour remains dangerous if he is prepared to shoot someone over a verbal threat in an attempt to protect his image in the gang culture,” she said. “It’s only luck for them both that (the victims) didn’t die.”

Scatch-Dubour received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to just over four years.

The female co-accused pleaded guilty to possession of a restricted firearm and was sentenced in April to deferred custody. A charge of aggravated assault against the male co-accused was previously stayed.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.