A sentencing hearing got underway June 3 for a 17-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to killing his adoptive mother and sister in St. Lazare.
The teen, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths in St. Lazare almost three years ago.
A 43-year-old woman and her five-year-old daughter died of gunshot wounds to the head at their home in the community, located about 160 kilometres northwest of Brandon, in August 2007.
The woman's adopted son, who was 14 at the time, was arrested and charged.
On Thursday morning, the boy's father addressed the court and spoke about finding his wife and daughter lying on the kitchen floor and then wrestling with son to try to get a gun from him.
"I walked in and [saw] the blankets and said ‘What kind of game are you playing?'" the man said in court.
He said he wasn't able to wrestle the gun away from his son, but was unable to remove the bullets.
The sister of the woman who was killed, said the boy was adopted by the family when he was four years old.
"My sister and brother-in-law were very proud of him. It was like their prayers were answered when they finally brought him home," she said.
The boy's lawyers said he was often criticized by his mother, told he was hated, beaten with belts and slippers and sometimes made to sleep outside alone.
However, the boy's father said he didn't notice any abuse.
The sentencing hearing in Brandon is expected to last three days.
- with a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout
