One of the three men charged in the 2018 shooting death of a Trent River man was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
According to Today’s Northumberland, Steffan Hache, 23, of Kingston, apologized to the family of Scott McDonald in a Cobourg court on Thursday for his role in the man’s shooting death.
OPP say McDonald, a 43-year-old father of two, was found in the early morning on Aug. 18, 2018, with a gunshot wound outside his rental cabin on Church Street in the hamlet of Trent River, about 40 kilometres east of Peterborough.
McDonald later died of his injuries at the nearby Campbellford Memorial Hospital, OPP said.
Hache and two other Kingston men — Christopher Hulsman, 37 and Andrew Misztal, 26 — were arrested in February 2019 and each charged with second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. Hache was 22 at the time of his arrest.
According to the agreed statement of facts read in court, McDonald was an “active cocaine dealer” who was the victim of a robbery involving drugs as part of a plot by the three accused. Hache said the firearm — which he believed was a .22-calibre long gun — was only supposed to be used as a scare tactic.
The agreed statement of facts said a firearm has never been recovered as part of the investigation.
In the statement of facts, Hache told investigators he did not intend to shoot McDonald but reacted when the victim “jumped” at him.
Hache was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but taking into account time served while in custody and his admission of guilt, his sentence was 9.5 years.
The cases of Hulsman and Misztal are still before the court.
Comments