‘I think I killed a kid’

Minutes after he and another teen attacked a 15-year-old boy with machetes, nearly severing the victim’s wrist and slicing off three fingers, he ran home and made a startling disclosure to his foster mother.

“(He) says ‘I think I killed a kid,’” the woman told police, according to an agreed statement of facts provided to court at a sentencing hearing for the two youths Friday.

“I said ‘Don’t joke about that’, because he was giggling,” the woman said. “Then I noticed blood on his shoulder and a whole lot on his shoe, and I asked him where it was from and he wouldn’t answer me.”

The offender, who is now 17, and his 15-year-old co-accused each pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and robbery in connection with two violent machete attacks committed six days apart in August 2024. The other victim was an 80-year-old man who had never met the teens.

“I have absolutely no doubt that these incidents were exceptionally traumatic for both victims,” provincial court Judge Michelle Bright said before handing both teens maximum youth sentences of three years’ custody and community supervision.

“Whatever either of these young people thought (the teen victim) had done, there is absolutely no excuse and no justification for nearly hacking someone to death in the middle of the sidewalk and leaving them there,” Bright said.

Crimes such as this affect not only the victims, but the entire community, Bright said.

“People on the whole hear about it and feel less safe… like you may be attacked for doing absolutely nothing at any time while walking down the street,” she said.

The crime took place at a time when the public was spooked by a rise in random attacks, often inflicted by young people, that involved machetes, including on transit buses.

In response to the increasing violence, the Manitoba government introduced the Long-Bladed Weapon Control Act in late 2024 to restrict the retail sale of machetes and other long-bladed weapons. The law bans the sale of such weapons to people under the age of 18 and requires buyers to produce photo identification.

In this instance, court was told the teens had both been drinking Aug. 4, 2024, when they went to a home on the 400 block of Pritchard Avenue looking for someone with whom one of the teens had a “street beef.”

Residents in the house initially scared away the teens, who returned a short time later armed with machetes. The older teen discharged bear spray into the home after which the younger teen instigated an attack on an 80-year-old male visitor who was smoking a cigarette in the front yard.

“There is absolutely no excuse and no justification for nearly hacking someone to death in the middle of the sidewalk and leaving them there.”

“Suddenly and unprovoked, (the younger teen) turned to the victim and began swinging/hitting (the victim) about the face, head, neck, arms and body with the machete,” says the agreed statement of facts.

The older teen and a third unidentified youth joined the attack, “causing extensive injuries” to the elderly man. He was taken to hospital with slicing wounds to his head, neck and arms. His left ear was sliced in half.

Six days later, the teens, again armed with machetes, became involved in a dispute with the teenage victim after crossing paths shortly before 11 p.m. on the 300 block of Selkirk Avenue.

The dispute “escalated,” and the teens knocked the victim to the ground, “where he was repeatedly kicked, punched and attacked with machetes,” says the agreed statement of facts. The teens robbed the boy of his cellphone before abandoning him on the street.

The victim was rushed to hospital in critical condition with deep lacerations and stab wounds to his head, back, arms and legs. Three severed fingers were reattached during a 15-hour surgery. He lost sight in one eye.

The teen victim, who was not present in court, declined to complete a victim impact statement, telling a victim support worker he “is just done with the situation and trying to move on.” Court heard he has numbness in his foot and his reattached fingers “don’t work.”

The 80-year-old victim wrote in a victim impact statement that he has trouble sleeping, lives with chronic pain and circulation problems and no longer likes to visit friends.

Forensic reports and pre-sentence reports prepared for court say the teens have backgrounds marked by neglect, violence, substance abuse and CFS involvement.

At the time of the attacks, the younger teen had been out of custody just one month, having just completed a sentence for assault and weapon offences.

The older teen has multiple convictions for violence, had his first run-in with the criminal justice system when he was 12, and reported he had been involved with gangs since he was eight years old.

“You are hurt people who are hurting people.”

The older teen was one of two offenders charged after they allegedly tried to escape from the Manitoba Youth Centre in July.

Court heard he was arrested later that night at his foster mother’s home.

Presentence reports prepared for both teens suggest they are “somewhat resigned to this life,” Bright said.

“That is worrisome, as it increases the chance that something like this will happen again,” she said.

“Your lives have been paved with giant roadblocks. So many of the things that happened to both of you when you were young children… are not your fault,” Bright told the teens.

“You are hurt people who are hurting people. My hope is that you will work with the people who want to help you.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca