Gang member sentenced for trying to chop off woman’s finger

A Saskatoon courtroom offered a glimpse Thursday morning into the brutal world of the Terror Squad street gang.

Raylene Sewap, 21, was sentenced for an attack that saw a woman’s finger partially cut off.

Court heard Sewap, a Terror Squad member, was at what was described as a gang house on the 300 block of Avenue S South on July 24.

A 20-year-old woman was also at the home. According to submissions made Thursday in court, another Terror Squad member recognized the woman and accused her of trying to leave the gang for a rival group.

That led to the woman being held for what amounted to six hours of torture, including being beaten and eventually mutilated.

Court heard the woman pleaded for water at one point during the ordeal and was forced to drink from a dog bowl on the floor.

At another point, she was threatened with having her hand cut off, but her attackers relented, saying they’d only take a finger.

That’s when Sewap tried to saw off the woman’s right pinky finger. When sawing failed, she tried to hack the finger off with a homemade machete. The assault stripped chunks of flesh off the finger, but didn’t fully sever it.

After the attack,  the woman was told to change out of her bloodied clothes and leave the home. She went to St. Paul’s Hospital where she was treated.

Sewap pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and unlawful confinement. She claimed she acted alone, but the Crown has charged three others in the attack. Those three co-accused remain before the courts.

A judge imposed a 5-year sentence after a joint submission by the Crown and defence. Sewap was also ordered to submit a DNA sample to be stored in a national database and will be forbidden from owning firearms for 10 years upon her release.