A Regina judge has sentenced a gang member to nine years in prison for killing another man over the colour of his shirt.
Skylar Alexson, 23, pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter in the stabbing death of 26-year-old Joshua Harden.
The admission came as part of a deal between Crown and defence attorneys, in which charges were reduced, from second-degree murder to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
There was also an agreed statement of facts, which revealed never-before heard details on how Harden died. Court heard that Harden was drunk, and wandering the 700 block of Garnet Street looking for his girlfriend, when he mistakenly approached Alexson’s house.
Alexson, a confirmed member of a local street gang, saw that Harden was wearing a red shirt, a colour he associated with a rival gang.
Harden fled down the street, but Alexson followed, and stabbed Harden in the back. An autopsy later found that stab wound severed Harden’s aorta, killing him.
Crown prosecutor Sonya Guiboche described the circumstances as “vicious” and “tragic,” and a classic example of street gang violence.
“(It’s) a situation all too common in the City of Regina, which has left too many families heartbroken and devastated,” Guiboche said.
Defence attorney Jeff Deagle focused his statements on Alexson’s troubled childhood, noting the man first joined a street gang at the age of nine, and began using drugs regularly at the age of 12.
Deagle also said Alexson had been using drugs the night of Harden’s death, and remembers very little about what happened.
Court also heard from Harden’s family, with seven victim impact statements read into the record, including one from Harden’s seven-year-old daughter.
“I feel sad. And lonely. And really, really, really, really mad that someone killed my daddy,” the statement read. “I miss my daddy so, so, so, so, so much.”
Alexson showed no emotion throughout the proceedings. When asked by Justice Ellen Gunn if he had anything to say to the court, he replied, “nothing.”
