Man receives five-month conditional sentence order in Battleford attack

He must also abstain from alcohol and drugs and take anger management programming. He must have no contact with the victim, Colby Tootoosis, his partner and their six-year-old daughter. He must also not attend Eleanore Sunchild’s residence in Battleford. Lesmeister is also ordered to 18 months probation.

Lesmeister is ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and make a $1,000 donation to a charity decided by the victim and his daughter.

The court heard, Lesmeister went to the property looking for his bag after it was stolen from his truck. He found the bag with his cellphone in it but his pants containing a number of keys were still missing.

At the same time, Colby Tootoosis, a young Indigenous man, was returning the trailer he borrowed from Eleanore Sunchild to her property.

When Lesmeister saw Tootoosis, he shouted at him asking where his pants are. He then “sucker punched” Tootoosis and kneed him in the head after he fell to the ground.

Tootoosis sustained a broken nose in the incident and lost income while he was not able to work for a period. As an aggravating factor, his six-year-old daughter was present, in the front seat of his truck, when he was attacked by Lesmeister.

Larocque previously said there is no suggestion that anyone at Sunchild’s residence was involved in the theft.

Larocque had previously asked for a three-month conditional sentence order, served in the community, followed by 12 months of probation. He also suggested restitution of $16,000.

Kirkham recommended a suspended sentence and probation of nine to 12 months, with programming as directed by the probation officer. For restitution, he suggested an amount of $5,000.

Both Kirkham and Larocque did not believe the attack was racially motivated.

During court, Lesmeister began by reiterating he apologizes for his actions. He added that he has many First Nation friends and sent emails to contacts within the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) trying to resolve the issue sooner.

Kritzer noted that Lesmeister has no prior criminal record as a mitigating factor and said while the attack may not have been racially motivated from the offender’s position, the victim had a perception of racial motivation, which impacted him and his family.

The judge added that he understands Lesmeister’s position, but also understands the victim’s and Sunchild’s position.

“To hear that a six-year-old [Tootoosis’ daughter] is now afraid of her father going to town, it’s heartbreaking,” the judge said. “To think that this is the thought she might have to endure for the rest of her life, it’s heartbreaking.”

Kritzer also pointed to his concerns about two letters of support for Lesmeister in which the authors said they would or may have responded the same way as Lesmeister in a similar situation.

He described Lesmeister’s action of attacking the victim, assuming that he had some knowledge of the theft, as vigilante justice. When Lesmeister felt frustrated by the police’s lack of immediate response after he reported the theft of his bag and its contents, he took matters into his own hands.

The judge added that one of the dangers of vigilante justice is also that sometimes the individual can be wrong, and innocent people are attacked.

Kritzer said he hopes to send a message to the public that “taking justice into your own hands won’t be condoned by the court.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Angela Brown

Man receives five-month conditional sentence order in Battleford attack

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