Family, friends gather to protest reduced sentences for young offenders convicted of killing Serena McKay

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This article was published 16/02/2018 (2408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

About 20 people, including the victim’s mother and brother, gathered on a blustery day in front of the Manitoba Legislature to protest Serena McKay’s killers receiving reduced sentences.

The two females convicted were under 18 at the time of the crime and face reduced sentences because they were young offenders.

As it stands now, her killers cannot receive sentences longer than seven years, under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

In April of 2017, Serena, 19, was repeatedly beaten and left outside to freeze to death. She was found dead with 60 wounds to her body.

Excerpts of her vicious beating were captured on video and posted on social media.

The beating took place near Powerview-Pine Falls. Serena is from Winnipeg but was living in Sagkeeng First Nation with some people she knew while she attended Grade 12.

“I know there are a lot of people that saw the video posted online about my daughter’s beating and a lot of people feel the way I do. They want justice for Serena,” said Delores Daniels, Serena’s mother.

“We don’t see that there’s justice” in the lighter sentences facing her killers, she said.

‘ … a lot of people feel the way I do. They want justice for Serena. We don’t see that there’s justice’– Delores Daniels

Sentencing for one of the females is scheduled for April 24. The other teenager will be sentenced in June. The Crown said it will argue the second teen should be sentenced as an adult for manslaughter.

The rally started at the Legislature and protesters walked up Memorial Boulevard and through part of downtown.

The protest was organized by Gabrielle Lavery, 17, a student at St. James Collegiate. She didn’t know Serena or her family but was outraged by the violent beating and the reduced sentences facing Serena’s attackers.

“They did the adult crime, they should do the adult time,” Lavery said.

“That could have been my sister. That could have been anyone I know and if that was someone I knew I’d want someone to go out and protest about it.”

Lavery and Serena’s mother are urging anyone who saw the video to fill out a victim impact statement and submit it to the Crown. They were handing out photocopies of the forms at the rally. The four-page form from the Manitoba government can be found using Google.

“I regret watching the video. It made me cry, it brought on depression,” said Lavery. “A lot of people were impacted by that video.”