‘You owe it to my son to live proper, to be better’

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This article was published 03/10/2023 (704 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tania Cayer had no faith the justice system would do right by her son Tyree, killed during an unprovoked attack at Winnipeg’s flagship library last December.

In a crowded courtroom Tuesday, the grieving mother instead looked to her son’s now 15-year-old killer for the only measure of solace to which she could cling.

“I have no confidence in the youth justice system,” Cayer said in a tear-filled victim impact statement. “I read the paper daily and the system is failing our citizens. The only justice I will ever have is that you change your life. You owe it to Tyree. You owe it to your mother. You owe it to my son to live proper, to be better.”

The boy was one of four teens arrested for the Dec. 11 slaying of 28-year-old Tyree Cayer inside the Millennium Library. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced Tuesday to seven years custody and community supervision, the maximum term allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Crown attorney David Burland detailed the circumstances of the killing in an agreed statement of facts he read out in court. A publication ban prohibits disclosing details of the killing as the boy’s three co-accused remain before the courts.

Cayer was stabbed multiple times during an altercation with several male youths inside the library at about 4:30 p.m., the Free Press reported at the time.

The three co-accused — ages 14, 15, and 16 at the time of the killing — are charged with manslaughter.

The killing shocked the city and resulted in a security overhaul at the library, which didn’t reopen with full services until Jan. 23.

“The library is supposed to be a gathering place, a safe space,” Burland said. “It’s a communal space of learning that was horrendously violated that day.”

Provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson agreed to a joint Crown and defence recommendation that the boy serve his sentence under an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision order. The IRCS program allows participants access to one-on-one counselling, occupational therapy, tutoring and other specialized services at a cost of $100,000 a year.

Participants in the IRCS program must be guilty of a serious violent offence, suffer from a mental illness or disorder, and have a treatment program that case workers believe will reduce their risk to the public.

“All of these factors have been met,” Burland said.

Court heard the boy suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which significantly hampers his impulse control, and post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from injuries sustained in a childhood accident.

Prosecutors did not consider making an adult sentencing application for the boy, who had never been arrested prior to Cayer’s killing, Burland said.

Before a judge agrees to sentence a youth as an adult, prosecutors must rebut the presumption they are less morally blameworthy than an adult and satisfy the court that a youth sentence would be of insufficient length to hold them accountable.

“The offence itself, while shocking and horrendous, lacks the planning and sophistication that is often associated with homicides that are the subject of adult sentence applications,” Burland said.

Eyrikson said prosecutors would have had “a very steep hill to climb” convincing any court an adult sentence was appropriate.

“It would be very easy and very human to say an adult sentence here would be the only outcome that would be fair in a circumstance such as this,” Eyrikson said.

“However, in understanding the youth law as it presents itself and the particular circumstances of (the accused), I must say clearly I understand and agree… that an adult sentence is simply not available in circumstances such as this.”

The boy, in the company of his mother, turned himself in to police the day of the killing, and provided a “fairly fulsome statement” admitting his involvement, said defence lawyer Stacey Soldier.

“It has been his intention the entire time to plead guilty to this offence,” Soldier said. He “feels guilt, shame and disappointment…. He knows he has his life and Mr. Cayer doesn’t.”

The boy offered a brief apology to Cayer’s family in court and asked for forgiveness.

“I took (Cayer) away from his family and I will always remember that,” he said.

Cayer was a talented teen athlete and a star on both offence and defence for Elmwood High School’s football team. He appeared destined for a professional career before a series of concussions and other injuries sidelined his dreams.

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Cayer struggled with mental-health issues, including bipolar disorder, and was frequently victimized by people he tried to help, Tania Cayer said.

“Tyree had a soul that wanted to help,” she said. “He truly thought he could help the world, and that was his mission.”

Cayer said she moved to the country a couple of years ago following a family tragedy and wanted Tyree to join her.

“My life now is in complete shambles,” she said. “I had such hopes of getting Tyree out there… but he felt the streets needed him. It’s like he thought he was Robin Hood.”

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.