Killer of Charlotte Lafferty portrayed as younger than his years during sentencing

A young man being sentenced for one of the most brutal murders in the Northwest Territories was portrayed as a victim during much of his sentencing hearing.

The man was 17 years old when he beat young mother Charlotte Lafferty to death in Fort Good Hope. It was an attack that lasted 20 to 30 minutes and left Lafferty beaten beyond recognition. He beat her with a length of lumber, tore her clothes off, sexually assaulted her with the murder weapon and, according to a witness, urinated on her lifeless body.

"I know this was a serious event that happened," said the man, now 20 years of age, in court this week. He said he was still grieving the death of a younger relative.

"I was so confused and lost at the time, I chose to drink and do drugs to deal with it," he said, later adding, "I pray for Charlotte and her family every day."

Much of the sentencing hearing dealt with the man's level of maturity, with his lawyer arguing the convicted man was less mature than his age, and the prosecutor suggesting he had the maturity of an adult.

Defence position

Defence lawyer Charles Davison said the man had grown up in a home where there was drinking and domestic violence, that he had been bullied, and was coping with the death of a younger sibling. Davison said all of that combined to slow his client's growth to adulthood.

Davison said the man's substance abuse was also another indication of his immaturity, especially because the man had a perfect example in his father of someone who turned away from alcohol years ago.

The man's lack of empathy (as noted by a psychiatrist who examined him for the sentencing) was also a sign of his immaturity, Davison said, noting that younger people tend to think more of themselves than others.

Lafferty's killer saw himself as a victim when he was being sentenced for attacking a man in 2013.

According to an agreed statement of facts tendered when he pled guilty to assault causing bodily harm, he admitted he repeatedly kicked and punched a man as the man lay on the ground covering his head with his hands and arms. People screamed at him to stop, then he picked up a bench and threw it down on the man.

In a pre-sentence report prepared for that sentencing, the man told a probation officer the victim had been "cheeky" and "acting tough."Asked if he blamed the victim for the situation he found himself in, he replied, "a little bit, yeah." He suggested the incident "was all a lie" and the victim had made up his injuries.

In an update of that report for the murder sentencing, the man said he was drinking and smoking marijuana which left him in a blackout state the night Lafferty died.

He said he was "trying not to let (the guilty verdict) get to me," and said, "I feel like I'm in a nightmare."

'A life sentence is necessary,' says Crown

Relying largely on a psychiatric assessment done for the murder sentencing, the prosecutor said the convicted man "had the moral compass of an adult at the time of the offence." Annie Piche pointed out that if the man is given a youth sentence, he would be back in the community without any supervision at the age of 31.

"Anything short of a life sentence would simply not be just," said Annie Piche. "A life sentence is necessary for the safety of the public."

The psychiatrist who examined the man said he is a high risk to re-offend violently and that despite his intellectual limitations, the convicted man's maturity was one of his most striking features.

If sentenced as a youth, the man would spend six years in custody followed by four year's probation. If given an adult sentence, he would automatically get life, with no parole for at least 10 years.

The judge is scheduled to give her decision April 20.