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The final person convicted in the killing of Megan Gallagher learned their fate at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench on Wednesday, closing a case that has spanned more than five years.
Justice John Morrall sentenced Roderick Sutherland to 7.5 years in prison. Sutherland received five years for manslaughter and 2.5 years for offering an indignity to human remains. With time already served, he will spend just under five years behind bars.
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Last October, a jury found Sutherland guilty of manslaughter, unlawful confinement and offering an indignity to human remains. The unlawful confinement charge was stayed at Court of King’s Bench on April 13.
In September 2020, Gallagher was killed in Sutherland’s garage on Weldon Avenue by a group of people affiliated with the Terror Squad Gang. Her body was put in the back of a truck and thrown off the St. Louis Bridge into the South Saskatchewan River, and her remains were found two years later.
Several victim-impact statements were read at Sutherland’s sentencing hearing earlier this month, including one from Gallagher’s father Brian who said “we are all suffering the loss of a beautiful human being.”
He described his daughter as an intelligent, loving human with an amazing sense of humour and dreams of becoming a Red Seal chef.
Since hearing the evidence presented at Sutherland’s trial, Brian said there isn’t a day where he has not relived his daughter’s “vicious, brutal, confinement.”
“I don’t have to close my eyes to see the senseless beating and taking of the life of Megan Michelle Gallagher,” he told the court.
At the end of the hearing, Sutherland, wearing a bright orange sweater, addressed the court and apologized.
“Sorry for not doing more to stop the situation, sorry for not calling the police,” he said.
“I didn’t know Megan, I’m sure she was loved (and) a loved daughter.”
Six others were convicted in the case of Gallagher’s killing and were previously sentenced for charges including second-degree murder, manslaughter and offering an indignity to human remains.
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