Manitoba man sentenced in 'puzzling and disturbing' murder of woman

20-year-old Hailey Dugay died following a shooting near Fraserwood, Man. (Source: Facebook/Branden Harasymko)

A Manitoba man convicted in a 'puzzling and disturbing' murder of a 20-year-old woman who had been out with friends the night she was fatally shot has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.

William Ryerson Comber was in Manitoba's Court of King's Bench on Friday, listening to a judge deliver his sentence nearly a year after his conviction for the killing of Hailey Dugay in November 2018.

Police previously told media the shooting happened after a fight had broken out at the Fraserwood Bar. Police initially charged another man, Jesse Paluk, in the murder, but the charge was dropped and investigators later charged Comber.

In a review of facts laid out by the Crown, Justice Vic Toews said following the fight, Paluk stood in the middle of the rural road and fired a high-powered rifle five times into the air as three trucks passed him.

Toews said Comber, who had been supporting Paluk, fired his rifle as well. One of his shots hit Dugay, who had been sitting in the passenger seat, fatally wounding her.

She was rushed to hospital where she died of her injuries. Comber was convicted of second-degree murder by a jury last December in connection with her death.

"The circumstances of this offence are very puzzling and disturbing. A jury has convicted Mr. Comber of second-degree murder in the killing of a completely innocent person - a young woman who was out for an evening with her friends," Toews said while reading his decision on Friday.

"This was no accident. Mr. Comber discharged his rifle… knowing that he would cause bodily harm which he knew was likely to cause the death of the occupants of that truck and was reckless as to whether death occurred.”

In reaching his decision, Toews said he considered Comber's criminal record along with a jailbreak he was involved in after he had been arrested for the murder.

“While in custody and assisting in the unloading of a delivery truck inside the correctional institute where he was being held, he stole the delivery truck while armed with a sharp-bladed weapon, taking the keys from the driver and driving the vehicle through the locked jail gates," Toews said.

The more than two-hour-long chase ended when the truck went off the road, and Comber gave himself up in an open field near Lorette, Manitoba.

Toews said Comber was convicted to three years for jailbreak and six months on the auto theft – a sentence Toews said Comber has since served.

“Even prior to the jailbreak, he has demonstrated dangerous if not violent tendencies involving the position of a weapon, uttering threats, and the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle," Toews said.

"Those tendencies are magnified in the jailbreak incident after his arrest for this offence."

Toews also questioned a psychologist's report which found Comber was at a low risk to reoffend. The judge said the psychologist's only two substantive interviews included Comber and his mother, and the report failed to review any of Comber's probation records or speak to any complainants.

Along with the 12-year parole ineligibility period, Toews issued a lifetime weapons prohibition and ordered Comber to provide DNA.