Court weighs sentencing options for unprovoked Main Street attack

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This article was published 28/03/2021 (1270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Martha Catcheway isn’t ready to forgive the now 15-year-old boy who killed her son following an unprovoked attack on a Main Street underpass, but she knows she will one day.

“I know it is a hard time for me to forgive you, but I will as time goes by,” Catcheway told the boy at a sentencing hearing Friday.

“What you did was really wrong,” she said. “I know your upbringing wasn’t right and I know I have to forgive because that’s what my son would want me to do.”

Neilson Catcheway, 40, was runover by a car after he was attacked by the boy on the sidewalk and fell several feet to the road.

Lawyers for the Crown and defence are recommending that the boy, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the October 2019 attack, serve a three-year sentence under an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision Order. The IRCS program, available to a small number of violent and troubled youth offenders, allows participants access to one-on-one counselling, occupational therapy, tutoring, and other specialized services.

Crown attorney Jerilee Ryle recommended that the boy serve the entire sentence in custody, subject to annual review, while defence lawyer Josh Anstett argued he should be allowed to serve two years under community supervision.

“This was a senseless attack on an innocent victim” who was “minding his own business,” Ryle said.

Court heard the then 13-year-old boy, a then 14-year-old co-accused and three other boys crossed paths with Catcheway on the sidewalk of the underpass at Higgins Avenue shortly after midnight when one of the boys heard Catcheway mumble something and the accused decided to “jump him.”

Catcheway tried to run away after the accused kicked at him but was quickly knocked to the ground. Court heard the accused kicked Catcheway in the head and shoulder as he held on to a sidewalk railing for support.

Catcheway, in an effort to escape, had thrown one leg over the railing when the boy ran at Catcheway and shoved him in the back, causing him to lose his grip and fall seven feet to the roadway.

“The other boys described hearing a loud clap or smack when he fell and two of the boys saw him connect with the street head first,” Ryle said.

Twenty seconds later a car ran over Catcheway and didn’t stop, Ryle said.

An autopsy determined Catcheway died as the result of “crushing injuries” sustained in the collision with the car.

The driver of the car was later identified but not charged. Court heard the man was not driving erratically and did not realize he had run over someone.

Court heard the boy has a disadvantaged background similar to many Indigenous offenders, marked by extreme poverty, neglect, substance abuse and abandonment by his father. According to a pre-sentence report provided to court, on the day of the attack, the boy was troubled by an angry encounter with his father.

“I was like a pop bottle, all shaken up and ready to explode,” a probation officer quoted the boy as saying.

The boy, who court heard has had “multiple mental health diagnoses,” told a probation officer he did not mean to hurt Catcheway.

“I only meant to frighten him,” he said. “I didn’t mean to push things that far.”

Catcheway’s death “damaged my soul,” his mother told court.

“Every day I go to the cemetery and talk to my son,” she said. “Why did you have to go that way? Why did he do that to you?”

The boy apologized to Catcheway’s family in court, saying he didn’t expect them to forgive him.

Catcheway’s sister told the boy she forgave him, and urged him to move forward on a positive path.

“I know your upbringing was really hard,” she said. “I’m really sure there is a good person inside you, I can see that.”

Judge Rob Finlayson will sentence the boy April 7.

The boy’s co-accused, who admitted to kicking Catcheway, pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and was sentenced last year to nine months custody.

dean.pritchard@freepess.mb.ca