REGINA – A mother and daughter have been sentenced to 8.5 years in jail for their role in the death of Ray Yacevich in March, 2014.
42-year-old Rosalyn Wilm and her 23-year-old daughter, Sarah Wilm, were charged with second degree murder after firefighters found Yacevich’s badly burned body in a house fire.
In a joint submission, the Wilms’ plead not guilty to the murder charges, instead admitting guilt for lesser manslaughter charges.
According to the agreed statement of facts, all three individuals were drinking and using drugs on the night of March 22, 2014.
Rosalyn Wilm passed out, prompting her daughter to have a neighbour call 9-1-1.
Paramedics arrived but did not see a need to take Rosalyn to the hospital and left.
After they left, 53-year-old Yacevich allegedly groped Sarah’s groin region. That prompted Rosalyn to attack him with a hammer and she struck him in the head.
Sarah then grabbed the weapon and continued the assault.
They dragged the victim downstairs and called over a pair of friends to help them dispose of the body.
At some point, the house on Wascana Street was set on fire.
The court heard Yacevich died of blunt force trauma to the head, though he was still alive when fire broke out in the home.
The Wilms were arrested about a week later on the Cote First Nation.
“It’s a very sad situation. There’s a lot of things we don’t know at the end of the day. But what we do know is that Ray Yacevich was killed and Sarah Wilm and Rosayln Wilm were responsible,” said Crown Prosecutor Derek Davidson.
To this day, very little is known about the victim.
“Personally, I don’t know anything about Mr. Yacevich. To my knowledge, no family ever contacted our office. There were no victim impact statements, there was nobody here for him today, which is incredibly sad,” said Senior Crown Prosecutor James Fitzgerald.
When sentenced, Rosalyn addressed the court first and said, “I wish none of this had happened because of my addictions and I wish to address them while in custody.”
Sarah followed, “I’m sorry for what happened and I’ll do what I can to better myself.”
Sarah’s lawyer said he is hopeful she will she will one day be able to rehabilitate and re-establish a relationship with her young children.
“She’s hit rock bottom, if that’s the case. And there’s only one place, it’s going up,” said defence lawyer Jeff Deagle.
The Wilms have been in custody for 16 months and eight days and have been given credit of two years for time served, meaning they will remain in prison for the next 6.5 years.
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