Youth pleads guilty in man's death by gunshot to the head in Regina

A youth who killed a man in Regina by shooting him in the head has been sentenced to a three-year intensive treatment plan.

The intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision (IRCS) plan will consist of two years in custody and one year in the community, on top of the year he has already spent in jail.

The 17-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter for causing the death of 18-year-old Gregory Severight, who died on Dec. 21, 2023, after he was found injured outside a house on the 1300 block of Retallack Street.

The male youth, who was 15 at the time of the offence, cannot be named under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. 

He was sentenced on May 28 in Regina Court of King's Bench after pleading guilty, admitting that "he fired a shot in the direction of Mr. Severight, without the intention of killing him," according to the agreed statement of facts filed in court.

The Crown and defence jointly proposed the three-year IRCS sentence, which Justice Catherine Dawson accepted.

The agreed facts outline that Severight died from a fatal gunshot wound to his head but police had few leads until a witness came forward two-and-a-half weeks later. The witness told police about "some kid" who had shown up at a house asking for help to get rid of a gun. 

The youth said he "took someone for a dirt nap," the witness said.

Police captured Facebook posts from the youth's account that appeared to also reference a killing. They arrested him on Jan. 24, 2024.

Mother was murdered

The judge's written decision includes a summary of the youth's upbringing, including outlining relevant Gladue factors – which are taken into account during sentencing and help explain an Indigenous person's history, their family's history and their community's history to the courts.

The youth's grandfather was sent to residential school, and his mother was removed from her biological family and adopted by a white family, before being sent to a residential school herself.

The youth spent his first few years with his family on a First Nation in southern Saskatchewan but after his parents separated, he moved to Regina with his mother, who struggled financially and joined a gang.

The youth was apprehended from his mother when he was 10, the judge wrote. Then his mother was brutally murdered by other gang members when the youth was 12 years old. He "never really dealt with the death of his mother" and started to use alcohol and marijuana to cope.

He returned at one point to live with his father on the First Nation, then to Regina to live with an uncle, and stayed for a time with his grandfather. He also was placed at youth group homes, but ran away from the last one and was living with his girlfriend at the time of the offence.

The IRCS sentence

The intent of an IRCS sentence is "to provide a young person with the necessary treatment needed to ensure the youth's effective rehabilitation and reintegration into society," the judge wrote in her decision.

Each IRCS sentence is individually designed and consists of a set time in custody and then a second period that's half as long, served in the community subject to conditions. The maximum IRCS sentence is two years in custody and one year in the community.

Recommended treatment during the community portion includes substance abuse intervention, educational and vocational planning, life-skills training, a violence prevention plan and psychiatric/psychological care. Mental health counselling and planning for reintegration will also be part of the programming while the youth is in custody.

If the youth breaches the conditions during the second part of the sentence, he could be required to serve the rest of that period in custody, as well.

"It is clear that [the youth] needs to mature so that he can constructively address his many issues," the judge wrote. "He requires intensive counselling and ongoing education to prepare himself for his eventual re-entry into society. I am satisfied this can be appropriately provided through an IRCS sentence."