A severed pinky, a hammer and a night gone bad: Details revealed in attempted murder

More details are coming out in court documents about an attempted murder that left a man beaten, bloody and missing a finger.

According to court documents, in October 2020 the victim was at a Regina bar. There he met Jenna Hoffman and left with her and two others in their vehicle to go to a party.

However, on the way, things went bad, fast.

The victim said he was suddenly choked from behind by a rope or a belt and his face was covered with something, then he was hit in the head a number of times by something he thought was a hammer.

He managed to jump out of the moving vehicle, but the attackers stopped and got him back in.

The victim was tied up in the car’s front seat and robbed of a brand-new $900 watch and his wallet that contained cash, a gift card and all his identification.

The thieves demanded his PIN and he gave them the wrong one, but when they discovered that, he was attacked again.

“(Two of the accused) began threatening to cut off (the victim’s) fingers or to kill him if he did not give the correct PIN number,” read the court documents.

They did cut off the man’s pinky finger with bolt cutters.

The victim then gave them the right PIN number and passed out. The thieves tried multiple times to access his bank account but didn’t manage it.

It wasn’t until the victim was being dragged by his tied-up feet through a field near Fort Qu’Appelle that he came to again, only to be kicked and punched again.

“(Hoffman) described what was done to (the victim) by (the others) as ‘torture.’ She stated that she was so sickened by what (they) were doing and had done to (the victim) that she returned to the vehicle and turned up the music to drown out (the victim’s) screaming,” said court documents.

The other two took the victim’s shoes, pants and underwear before leaving him in the field.

The victim was found a few hours later by a couple who’d been driving on the highway; they said he’d been lying on the side on the road in the fetal position. They called 911 and the victim was taken to hospital.

The court documents catalogue his injuries as a severed pinky finger which was never found, and 19 lacerations to the back of the head that needed 107 staples to close.

His left ear was almost entirely severed; it was reattached but a doctor said it had “questionable viability.” The victim also had eight broken or missing teeth and scratches and bruises across his entire body.

Hoffman, Sheridan Squirrel and another man were arrested and charged. Squirrel entered into a plea agreement and was sentenced to six years.

Hoffman co-operated with police in the investigation and while the Crown asked for the same sentence as Squirrel, she was given a five-year sentence. With credit for time served, it becomes nearly three years in prison.

The third man is set to hear his sentence later in May.