Armstrong woman sentenced to 10 years for killing common-law partner; family gets closure

An Armstrong, B.C., woman admitted Tuesday that she fatally shot her common-law partner nearly four years ago.

Lynda Saundry, 62, killed Barry Jones, 55, in their shared home near Armstrong on July 29, 2020. This week when she pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter, she put an end to a trial set to carry on for two weeks.

According to the agreed statement of fact, Saundry and Jones had broken up months before the fatal shooting and lived in separate bedrooms.

On the night Jones was killed, they got into an argument and then she shot him three times with a Winchester firearm,  Crown counsel Mallory Treddenick said.

The first two shots weren’t made with the intent to kill, Treddenick said. The first bullet went into one of Jones’s legs, another went through his torso and the third shot, fired by accident, was fatal.

That bullet left the gun barrel and struck Jones as Saundry was attempting to reload her weapon.

That final bullet caused his death, Treddenick said.

To move ahead with a manslaughter conviction — a lesser charge than first-degree murder which was what Saundry was being tried for — Crown counsel accepted that the third and fatal bullet hit Jones as a surprise to Saundry.

Crown and defence recommended a sentence of 10 years for Saundry, and B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Betton accepted their submission.

2:24 Second-degree murder trial begins

Saundry was arrested on Aug. 2, 2020, and has since served 1,312 days. With credit given at 1.5 days per each day spent in prison she’s served, 1,968 days behind bars.

That means there are 1,682 days remaining in her sentence.

“It is impossible in the context of any case where an individual loses their life, by the criminal actions of another, to do justice to … the loss of that life on an emotional level,” Betton said, accepting the joint submission.

The court system manages the best that it can with precedents and guiding principles of sentencing, he said. In this case, he said that the 10-year suggestion wasn’t out of line with other sentences.

For her part, Saundry didn’t speak. Rather, her lawyer said Saundry, a mother of two, is apologetic for everything that’s transpired and will live with the repercussions for the rest of her life.

Jones’s niece, Tammy Jones, said it would have been better to hear the apology from Saundry directly, though there is some sense of closure with the trial finally coming to a close.

“You know, the biggest thing is that we have some closure, we’re able to move on with our lives,” Tammy said.

“You know, it’s been really hard for almost four years of coming back and forth to the courts … today we’re able to have, as a family, a little bit of closure.

“It’s not really what we were looking for, ultimately, in terms of a sentence. But in the end, I think the important thing out of all this is that my uncle was recognized for who he was and the importance he held within the community.”

Jones was a contributing member of the Okanagan Indian Band and Tammy said he had a responsibility to the elders and was a provider in the community.

“The other thing: It was important that we recognize that he was a father, a grandfather, a brother and an uncle. And it’s important to the family to allow him to be at peace now. I think, if anything, today allowed us to do that.”