Michael Joel-Hansen
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
When a King’s Bench judge considers what kind of sentence to give a man convicted in the killing of Saskatoon woman Megan Gallagher, he will not rely on testimony from a witness who pleaded guilty to murder in the same case.
On Friday, Justice John Morrall heard submissions from both Crown and defence about what facts the court should consider before sentencing Roderick William Sutherland for his role in Gallagher’s death in September 2020.
Lawyers will return to court April 13 for sentencing submissions.
In October, a Saskatoon jury convicted him of manslaughter, unlawful confinement and committing an indignity to human remains.
Gallager, 30, died after being confined, beaten and wrapped in plastic in a King George neighborhood garage on Weldon Avenue that belonged to Sutherland.
The credibility of Robert “Bobby” Thomas was the focus of Friday’s hearing. Thomas, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, testified at Sutherland’s jury trial that Sutherland admitted hitting Gallagher with a pair of brass knuckles.
He told jurors that Sutherland told him he “got” Gallagher “back for him.”
Rejecting Thomas’s testimony, Morrall noted how he admitted to lying previously about the incident, and to being high on methamphetamine at the time.
Thomas also admitted that he had an undiagnosed mental illness, and had been up for 10 days straight using illicit drugs.
“I simply cannot rely on the accuracy of anything he says primarily due to that level of impairment,” Morrall concluded.
He ruled he will be relying instead on a statement Sutherland gave to police before he was charged in 2021.
In that interview, Sutherland told police that Gallagher was killed in his garage, but that he didn’t know who was responsible for her death.
Gallagher was last seen by her family on Sept. 19, 2020. She was a missing person for two years until her remains were found along the bank of the South Saskatchewan River near St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2022.
Sutherland was one of nine people charged in connection with her death. He was the only person who went to trial.
Besides Thomas, Summer-Sky Jodylynn Henry and Cheyann Chrystal Peeteetuce pleaded guilty to manslaughter. They received seven-year sentences.
Jessica Faye Badger, John Wayne Sanderson and Ernest Vernon Whitehead were sentenced for offering an indignity to human remains for their roles in the disposing of Gallagher’s body.
