A teen who pleaded guilty to killing a baby boy in Saskatoon covered her ears and cried multiple times while victim impact statements were read in court on Thursday during her sentencing hearing.
The teen, who was 16 at the time, pleaded guilty in October 2016 to second-degree murder in the July 2016 death of six-week-old Nikosis Jace Cantre.
Cantre died in hospital on July 3, 2016 after being found injured at the family’s home in College Park East.
His mother, grandparents and other family members said their lives were shattered when Nikosis was killed.
Alyssa Bird said her son’s death left her in a state of shock, and affected her schooling and relationships.
“A part of me has died,” Bird told court through a cousin who read her statement.
Bird said she has had thoughts of suicide since his death but didn’t go through with it because of her other babies.
She said those thoughts do come back and she sometimes wakes up at night crying.
It was a theme echoed by Nikosis’s grandfather, Jeffery Longman, who said his family used to be very happy before his death.
Now he is afraid to leave home out of fear of losing another grandchild.
“I feel like we’ve been robbed of my grandson,” he stated, adding that he and his wife use to lay with him, something they are no longer able to do.
He said Nikosis’s murder left him shocked, devastated, and angry, and left a void that will never go away.
Nikosis’s grandmother Charlene Longman blamed herself for his death, telling court that he would still be alive if she had not brought her daughter to Saskatoon.
She told court she cries every morning and had trouble sleeping for months after Nikosis’s death.
She said since the murder, her family no longer gets along like they used to and get into more arguments.
“We don’t know how to be happy anymore,” she said.
Other family members spoke of the loss to the family, and how they have all suffered emotionally since Nikosis’s death.
Final sentencing arguments are scheduled for Friday morning and it is expected the teen killer will make a statement.
A judge will decide if the teen, who is now 18, will be sentenced as an adult or a youth.
An adult sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years, while a youth sentence is four years in custody and three years of probation.