Murder victim’s mother sings part of victim-impact statement in a Toronto court

“None of the sounds are words. The song is a cultural expression of my grief.”

She was addressing a sentencing hearing for Kyle Sparks MacKinnon, a 28-year-old found guilty by a jury last week of two counts of second-degree murder for fatally shooting MacIntyre’s son Quinn Taylor, 29, and his friend, David Eminess, 26, early Jan. 31, 2016.

Sparks MacKinnon was also convicted of two counts of aggravated assault. His half-brother Jahmal Richardson, 33, was acquitted of all charges but the alleged gang leader remains in custody facing numerous charges including weapons trafficking and committing offences for the benefit of a criminal organization.

Sparks MacKinnon will not be sentenced until later this year. He will receive mandatory life sentences but the Crown is asking the judge to impose consecutive, not concurrent, parole ineligibility periods of 15 years each because two people died.

The trial heard the men and others were shot by at least two gunmen who opened fire after the victims’ friend — who was also shot — asked a group of strangers for directions.

When MacIntyre’s song was over, she described the trauma of losing her son, which has left her with acute anxiety, panic attacks and memory loss. She also talked about the debilitating effect her grief has had on her motivational-speaking business. According to MacIntyre’s online bio, she is a Juno Award-winning singer, speaker, spiritual teacher and Indigenous shaman.

Monday’s sentencing hearing was unusual for other reasons.

Before any victim-impact statements were heard, defence lawyer Sid Freeman objected to the content of some of them because they attacked her client’s character and seemed designed to push for a harsher sentence.

She told Superior Court Justice Ian MacDonnell that strays from the legal system’s purpose for such statements, which is to describe the emotional loss and impact one has suffered as a result of a crime.

MacDonnell agreed that three of the nine statements were “problematic.” A victim-impact statement is supposed to address the court and not to “confront the accused.” But he added it was an entirely “understandable reaction” that family and friends of the victims would want to tell the offender this is “what it is that you’ve done to me.”

The judge said maybe the system should be redesigned to allow victims to speak directly to the offender, but “that’s not for me to decide that’s parliament.”

After some editing, all but one of the statements was heard in court, some read by the people who wrote them, such as Quinn Taylor’s grandmother Pearl, who said “the news put a hole in my heart that will never heal.” Her grandson left behind a young daughter and promising musical career, court heard.

Prosecutor Sue Adams read the statement from Eminess’s mother, who left Trinidad for Toronto in 2006 believing it was safe. Her son was attending college learning electrical installation and was the father of a young daughter.

“I often have the thought if he had just stayed in Trinidad he would be with me today,” Adams said reading the victim’s mother’s words.