Murray Wood: Who's scary... and who's scary good?
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One chapter is over, but there are still many left in the book.
That’s how parents Brian and Debbie Gallagher characterized the second-degree murder conviction of 29-year-old Robert James Joseph Thomas in Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench, for his role in 30-year-old Megan Gallagher’s murder.
Megan was last seen in Saskatoon on Sept. 20, 2020, on video surveillance at a convenience store on Diefenbaker Drive.
Her remains were found along the South Saskatchewan River almost exactly two years after she went missing, near St. Louis, about an hour north of Saskatoon.
Thomas will not be eligible for parole for 18 years. Because several other people charged in the case are still awaiting their trials, an extensive publication ban was imposed on the details of the sentencing hearing, including the victim impact statements.
Brian said when he heard the judge at the Dec. 6 sentencing, he felt some sense of relief.
“The sentence, I guess, is appropriate. It was nice to hear the word ‘murder;’ to hear them say that you know, Megan was killed. So, I’m still dealing with that. I’m not sure… it’s a different kind of a feeling after four years of going to court,” he said.
He and Megan’s step-mom Debbie say they’ve been to about 300 court appearances over the last several years. They attended all of the suspect’s court dates except for one day, one time.
“That was the day that Megan was – Megan’s remains were found. That was September 29, 2022. Family was there, but we went to the search site instead,” he explained.
While they plan on attending upcoming court dates, some days he and Debbie said it’s difficult to even get out of bed.
“It just has to be done. Personally, for myself. The best advice I got from anybody was from another family of a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman (MMIW) — Happy Charles’ dad — he said, ‘You just get up in the morning and you put your first foot on the ground, and you take that first step.'”
Debbie echoed that.
“There’s many days that you don’t want to get out of bed. It feels like you’re living in a nightmare…take it one second at a time, one minute at a time, one day at a time,” she said.
But Brian said the family will never get “closure.”
“The worst part about it is, Megan will never come home. We will never see Megan again. We’ll never experience any of the things that Megan used to bring to our life that brought us all kinds of emotions.
“She was a special young lady with many, many gifts,” he said.
After a brief break, the family will get ready for the first degree murder trials of 31-year-old Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce, and 26-year-old Summer-Sky Henry scheduled to begin on Jan. 6, 2025 at Court of King’s Bench.
“We’ll start a new chapter there. But you know it’s not much of a break when Christmas is never the same is it?” he asked.
Both Brian and Debbie thanked those who’ve supported them over the last several years, including law enforcement, legal experts, and the families and friends of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).
The two hope that a life sentence in Thomas’ case will be a future deterrent and message that “there will be consequences” for violence against women.
