Crown seeks 12-year prison sentence for 2018 shooting

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This article was published 13/05/2020 (2002 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — The Crown is asking a Manitoba judge to sentence a man to 12 years in prison, after he was convicted of shooting at a carload of people — striking a teenage girl and a man in the head and face.

Randall McCargar, 63, did not recommend an appropriate sentence to the court during Tuesday’s hearing in Brandon Court of Queen’s Bench, instead maintaining his innocence.

McCargar represented himself during the trial and subsequent sentencing hearing.

“I didn’t shoot those people and I’m innocent… I was beat-up and robbed, and I called the police, and police arrested me for shooting somebody that I didn’t (shoot),” McCargar said, appearing in court by video. “I thought that I clearly proved my case during the trial.”

McCargar was convicted in February of two counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound or endanger life and one count of possessing a firearm without a licence.

The court heard witnesses describe how McCargar shot at a group of people as they were fleeing a Brandon parking lot July 12, 2018.

McCargar told police he was sleeping in his semi-truck, when a man and a woman forced their way in and started beating him. At some point in the scuffle, they took his wallet containing approximately $13,000, he testified.

In delivering his verdict, Justice Scott Abel accepted McCargar was assaulted and robbed, but rejected his claims the truck driver did not shoot at the fleeing vehicle carrying four women and a man.

Denunciation and deterrence are the main factors to consider in sentencing this case, Crown attorney Grant Hughes said Tuesday, given the “serious gun-related offences” before the court.

Abel reserved his decision, which is expected to be delivered in June.

— Brandon Sun