Young man convicted of stabbing fellow teen will not see jail time

The young man who stabbed and killed another teen at Kelvin High School in June 2015 will not see jail time.

The man, who cannot be named as he was a youth at the time of the offence, was sentenced Wednesday morning. He was convicted of manslaughter in Nov. 2017.

Justice Brenda Keyser handed the now 20-year-old man a year of conditional supervision.

“I am satisfied that it would not be in the public interest to further incarcerate him,” she said in her decision. “He has served the equivalent of nine months in pre-trial custody at the Manitoba Youth Centre and has since that time been on very strict bail for close to two years.”

READ MORE: Guilty verdict in 2015 stabbing of Winnipeg teen Brett Bourne at Kelvin High School

On June 2, 2015, the then-17-year-old was at school when a confrontation between his friend and the deceased, Brett Bourne, broke out. He grabbed a knife, anticipating Bourne may be armed and that his friend might need it.

Justice Keyser indicated in her decision that the young man sentenced today was not the initial aggressor, which began over a fight over the deceased’s ex-girlfriend.

When the friend didn’t want to engage, Bourne got more aggressive.

“At the time of the infliction of the fatal wound, [the young man] testified that he thought [Bourne] was reaching in his pocket for a weapon even though it turned out that he did not possess one.”

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READ MORE: “Relationship issues” may have sparked fatal stabbing at Winnipeg’s Kelvin High School

The judge found the young man was remorseful and considered him a very low risk to re-offend.

As part of his sentence, he must live with his parents, abstain from alcohol and non-prescription drugs and do 100 hours of community service work. He is also prohibited from possessing any weapons, including guns, explosives and cross-bows, for the next two years.