Watch above: An Edmonton woman who helped her brother escape custody after he threatened her family will not spend time behind bars. Kendra Slugoski explains.
EDMONTON – The sister of a convicted killer who escaped police and got into a gunfight with police pleaded guilty to one charge of aiding and abetting.
In March 2011, William Bicknell, 45, escaped while on an escorted pass from Drumheller Institution in southern Alberta. On the ride back from visiting his sister, Sandra Myshak, 51, in Edmonton, Bicknell feigned a heart attack, pulled out a knife and overpowered the lone guard who was driving.
On Wednesday morning, court heard Bicknell then called Myshak from a pay phone and threatened her and her family if she did not meet him at a U-Haul storage facility.
Myshak went to the facility with a key to open a storage unit. Bicknell took eight loaded long guns and ammo from the facility.
At various times over the next nine days, Bicknell held the guard and three other people hostage in their homes.
His run for freedom eventually ended in a car chase and gun battle with RCMP north of Grande Prairie. He was shot twice in the head, but survived.
Read More: Convicted killer William Bicknell captured after armed standoff
Myshak has been sentenced to an 18 month condition sentence for her involvement, which will require her to be under house arrest for nine months and under curfew for the remainder of the sentence.
On Wednesday, Defence Attorney Katie Clackson told the judge: “It’s an unfortunate situation of not being able to choose your family sir.”
Myshak did not have a previous criminal record.
In November 2013, Bicknell was given a life sentence for the nine day ordeal with no chance of parole for eight and a half years. He pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including unlawful confinement, escaping lawful custody, robbery and weapons offences.
Read More: William Bicknell receives life sentence
He was already serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2003 of second-degree murder for the beating death of a woman from British Columbia.
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