By Keith Lacey
A judge called the stabbing death of a quiet family man last Father?s Day ?a modern-day tragedy? that has devastated two families.
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Donald Southwind |
Justice Wayne Cohen sentenced Peter Trudeau, 19, to three years in a federal penitentiary Thursday. Trudeau had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the stabbing death of Donald Southwind.
Southwind, 23, was a father of one child and stepfather of his fiancee?s two children. He was unaware his finacee was expecting his second child at the time of his death.
Trudeau pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January. Victim impact statements and a pre-sentence report were prepared before Thursday?s sentencing hearing.
?What a tragic situation,? said Cohen. ?Donald Southwind has left behind a wife and family?and Peter Trudeau, a young man, found himself in a situation where in a split second he did something that destroyed a human being and a family.?
Trudeau tearfully told members of his family and Southwind?s family how sorry he was for his actions.
?To the victim?s family, I?d just like to let you know I apologize sincerely for your loss,? said Trudeau.
To his family, including his mother and sister who were in court, Trudeau told them how much their love and support over the past 11 months has meant.
Trudeau then addressed the judge and told him he has remorse for what happened.
?I am truly sorry and I never intended for Donald to lose his life,? he said. ?I ask for the mercy of the courts and I thank you.?
Defence counsel Robert Beckett said Trudeau is intelligent, polite and respectful of his family and others.
What happened last Father?s Day was a tragedy as a young man lost his life and two families have been damaged forever, said Beckett.
His client made ?a split second decision? to use force against Southwind, but he never anticipated it would lead to death and tragedy, said Beckett.
?He ended up taking the life of another human being?and for that an otherwise intelligent young man will be going to the penitentiary,? he said.
Southwind?s family is left without a loving father, husband and son, and his client realizes there?s a serious price to pay for his actions, said Beckett.
?In essence, the community is losing two decent young men,? he said.
Trudeau is a father of two young children, he?s spent almost six months in pretrial custody and hasn?t gotten into any trouble since being granted bail and this must all be considered in passing sentence, said Beckett.
Trudeau also turned himself into police, accepts full responsibility and promises to serve his time then become a good father and contributing member of society, said Beckett.
With the exception of one youth court conviction, Trudeau has never been in trouble with the law; he?s addressed a substance abuse problem and his strong, supportive family will always be there for him, he said.
In all the circumstances, a penitentiary term of three years on top of time served would be appropriate, said Beckett.
The lawyer also asked Cohen to recommend Trudeau be kept out of the general population in the penitentiary so he won?t be influenced by hardened criminals.
Cohen said he?d make that recommendation.
Assistant Crown attorney Len Walker agreed this is a very sad case.
A decent young man lost his life due to needless violence, Southwind?s family must carry on without a loving son and husband, while Trudeau is obviously a decent young man who made some terrible decisions the night in question, said Walker.
Any death caused by using excessive force must be punished as the community won?t accept anything less, said Walker.
What must not be forgotten is this event was totally avoidable, said Walker. ?A little courtesy could have prevented this on both sides.?
The Crown wanted it on the record how impressed they were with Trudeau?s demeanour and deportment. The accused has always been polite, accepted responsibility and shown real remorse for his actions ?which leads me to believe he will turn his life around? after he gets out of jail, said Walker.
An agreed statement of facts read into the record revealed Southwind had enough of the constant noise which kept his baby and family up four nights in a row preceding Father?s Day.
Southwind and his family lived in Birkdale Village, the public housing unit on Second Avenue in Minnow Lake.
When he returned home around 10:30 pm, Southwind approached a large group of young people he deemed responsible for making so much noise and told them again to quiet things down as his baby was trying to go to sleep.
Southwind, who was intoxicated, eventually got into a heated discussion with two young men and a verbal confrontation escalated into violence when Southwind slapped Trudeau twice in the back of the head.
Trudeau immediately responded by breaking a beer bottle he was holding over Southwind?s head.
At this point, Southwind?s fiancee entered the fray and stepped between Southwind and Trudeau when Southwind pushed her back and he and Trudeau started fighting.
Southwind was four inches taller and outweighed Trudeau by 60 pounds.
Several witnesses describe Southwind receiving numerous blows to the chest area.
Within seconds, Southwind fell to the ground bleeding and emergency crews were summoned and arrived on the scene very quickly.
Ambulance personnel managed to revive Southwind, who remained aggressive for a brief period, however, he fell into cardiac arrest.
Southwind was still alive when he arrived at hospital and doctors opened his chest and discovered a large hole in heart as a result of a puncture wound.
An autopsy revealed that besides the lethal wound to the heart, Southwind suffered seven other puncture wounds to his chest and rib area and abrasions and cuts to his face and ear area caused by falling to the ground.
After leaving the scene, Trudeau returned to his mother?s home on The Kingsway and told her something bad had happened.
His mother escorted him to the police station the next day.
Ronald Maidment, 20, was originally charged with second-degree murder, but that charge was reduced to assault.
Maidment served several weeks in custody, but was given a sentence of time served when all the facts were finally revealed in court.
