PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – A Saskatchewan man’s bid to overturn his conviction for the brutal sex slaying of a woman has been rejected in a split decision brought down this week by the province’s appeal court. John Thomas Shaoulle was given an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years after a judge found him guilty of first-degree murder in late 2013.
Shaoulle was charged after the naked and partially burned body of Margaret Sewap was discovered behind a Prince Albert hardware store in April 2011. Court heard the 33-year-old woman was violently sexually assaulted before her body was dumped.
Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle says they may take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada because one of the appeal court judges said in Wednesday’s decision that he would allow the appeal and enter an acquittal.
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Justice John Klebuc wrote that circumstantial evidence presented at trial was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and that there was no clear motive for Shaoulle to kill Sewap.
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