The Crown is seeking a 6 1/2-year prison sentence for a Saskatchewan man after he admitted to kicking a defenseless man, who later died.
Fergus Standingready pleaded guilty last week to an aggravated assault on 43-year-old Seydou Camara of Regina.
Standingready, 44, was previously charged with second-degree murder in connection with the September 2011 death.
Regina police have said the charge was later upgraded to murder following an autopsy by the Office of the Chief Coroner. However, the cause of death hasn’t been released.
According to an agreed statement of facts filed in court, Camara had earlier approached Standingready’s girlfriend outside their Regina apartment and made a sexual proposition. The woman called out to Standingready, who then came downstairs to find that Camara had already left.
Later that day, another woman phoned Standingready and told him that Camara was at her home in the city. Camara was lying in the backyard when Standingready went to the home with his girlfriend and another man.
Standingready believed that Camara had previously been assaulted, and he noted that one of the victim’s eyes was bloodied, according to the statement of facts.
When Standingready’s girlfriend confirmed that the man lying on the ground had approached her on the street earlier that day, he kicked Camara twice in the side of the head.
The statement of facts says Standingready admits that those kicks to Camara’s head caused a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which constitutes an aggravated assault.
Monday at Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina, defence lawyer Bob Hrycan argued that the 6 1/2-year sentence sought by the Crown is “unjustifiable.”
With credit for the more than three years he has spent on remand, Standingready would serve another two years. However, Hrycan has asked that his client be sentenced to time served.
Sentencing arguments are scheduled to continue Wednesday.
