Teenager gets one more year, rehab in fatal stabbing

A cognitively vulnerable man who was just days shy of his 18th birthday when he fatally stabbed a 50-year-old stranger will serve only one more year in custody.

The 19-year-old man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Aug. 5, 2023, killing of George Demos on Furby Street.

Court heard the man has an estimated IQ of 59, with his cognitive function falling in the “extremely low range.” He has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and shows all the signs of living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

An agreed statement of facts provided to court says the teen had been drinking at a Furby Street apartment with two adult co-accused: 23-year-old Jonathan Gladue and 22-year-old Nehemiah Fehr, who has since died. The trio left the apartment to buy cigarettes at a nearby convenience store.

While walking to the store, Fehr, who had just met the teen that night, handed him a knife.

“At the time (the teen) was handed the knife by Fehr, there had been no discussion or plan developed to commit a specific offence,” says the agreed statement of facts.

Moments later, the three accused came upon Demos walking with a woman. The group followed Demos and his companion down a back lane, where Fehr told his two co-accused he wanted to confront Demos, who he claimed had stolen his backpack.

Fehr demanded Demos turn over the backpack; when he refused, Fehr told the teen to “jab him” with the knife.

The teen, “who was fearful of his significantly older co-accused, proceeded to stab the victim once in the lower left side of the body after being directed to do so,” said the agreed statement of facts.

Fehr grabbed the backpack from Demos and the three accused ran back to the apartment. An argument between the teen and Fehr about the stabbing ended with Fehr threatening him with the knife.

Demos was taken to Health Sciences Centre and died about two hours later.

The teen was “manipulated” by his older, “much more sophisticated” co-accused (Fehr), who was the “guiding mind” behind the stabbing, Crown attorney Jay Funke told provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson.

“We accept that when he left the apartment that night, he had no idea what was going to unfold,” Funke said.

Funke and defence lawyers Matt Gould and Ashley Anderson jointly recommended the teen be sentenced to just over one year in custody and three years of conditional supervision in the community. He has already served about a year and a half in custody.

The maximum youth sentence for second-degree murder is seven years in custody and conditional supervision in the community.

The man’s sentence will be served under an intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision order. The program allows youth participants access to one-on-one counselling, occupational therapy, tutoring and other specialized services at a cost of $100,000 a year.

Participants 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.

Youth offenders are normally transferred to an adult facility when they turn 20 years of age. Under terms of the man’s sentence, he will be allowed to remain at the Manitoba Youth Centre until he turns 21 in August 2026, at which time he will begin serving the balance of his sentence in the community.

“The concern we have is that someone with his particular vulnerabilities would not do well in the adult system,” Funke told Carlson, who went along with the joint recommendation.

Court heard the Indigenous man had a troubled upbringing marked by violence, neglect and time in foster care.

“Any sentence that keeps him in custody beyond 21 would undo the gains we hope would be gained under the IRCS program,” Funke said. “The best way to keep the community safe is by giving him the best chance possible of becoming a pro-social and co-operative member of the community.”

Gladue was acquitted of second-degree murder in April after a judge ruled police officers who interrogated him had ignored evidence he had fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and was intellectually vulnerable.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca