Family describes grief at manslaughter sentencing hearing for Moncton teen

Joedin Leger's parents told a Moncton judge Wednesday that their world was shattered by the shooting death of their 18-year-old son last year.

"I went from being a proud dad to a broken man," said Rodney Leger. 

He was reading a victim impact statement to Judge Brigitte Volpé during the sentencing hearing for a 19-year-old who pleaded guilty to manslaughter. 

The Youth Criminal Justice Act prohibits naming the teenager because he was under 18 when Leger was killed on April 25, 2022.

Volpé issued a publication ban at the request of the Crown prosecutor Maurice Blanchard that prohibits reporting aspects of the sentencing hearing, including the facts the teenager has admitted.

The ban was requested because five others are set to be tried by a jury in January in connection with Leger's death.

"Yes, I admit that's what happened," the 19-year-old said, after Blanchard read the facts to the judge. 

RCMP have previously said police were called around 6:10 a.m. on April 25, 2022, about shots being fired at a Logan Lane duplex in Moncton's north end neighbourhood. Leger had been shot and was taken to hospital, where he later died.

Police said they determined a car had pulled up to the home and four people got out and approached the house. Several shots were fired before the four got back into a vehicle and fled the area, police said in a news release last year.

The 19-year-old, who has been in custody since his arrest on June 29 last year, was among six people charged with first-degree murder in connection with Leger's death.

The man pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter last month. 

The charges against the other five, who are being tried together, were reduced following a preliminary inquiry earlier this year. One faces a second-degree murder charge while four others are charged with manslaughter. 

First-degree murder is a homicide that's planned and deliberate, while second-degree is a homicide that's generally unplanned. Manslaughter is a homicide that's committed without intent, though there may have been an intention to cause harm.

Mother's Day spent preparing celebration of life

The 19-year-old sat in the prisoner's box on Wednesday in the Moncton courthouse in an orange shirt, listening as the details of the case were read to the judge and then watched Leger's family members read their victim impact statements.

Dawnita Hanson, Leger's mother, said she feels guilty she wasn't there to help her son the morning he was shot. 

"I really don't know who I am any more because I only think of myself as his mom," she told the judge. 

Instead of celebrating Mother's Day that year, she was preparing her son's celebration of life.

"I was looking forward to him growing up and becoming an adult," she said. "But Joedin is home now. He'll be 18 forever because he's in a box on my cabinet."

Leger's father said he was proud of his son, who he saw the day before his death and talked about future plans. 

"Everything was taken from him, and it was taken from me," his father said. "He was not an angel, but he was not a monster."

Chantal Boudreau, Leger's girlfriend, said she has been left traumatized by seeing him dying that morning.

"What happened that morning should have never happened," Boudreau said, adding it took "everything away from me that morning. My happiness, my love."

Boudreau said she hated the teenager and will never forgive him.

The 19-year-old was given a chance to address the judge. He stood, turning to look at Leger's family in the court gallery.

"I am very, very sorry for my involvement," he said. Other portions of what he said cannot be reported.

Sentencing decision delayed

The Crown and defence jointly recommended the maximum sentence of three years under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, saying they believed the law required one third of that to be served in the community. 

When applying a credit for time spent in custody prior to sentencing, the teenager may have had no further time to serve in jail. 

However, after hearing from the lawyers, Volpé said she wouldn't issue her sentencing decision because she believed they were incorrectly interpreting the law.

"I do not want the sentence to be based on a misunderstanding or an error of the law," Volpé said. 

The sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue Friday to give lawyers time to look into the issue.