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Denecho King speaks at sentencing hearing, Crown calls for 17-year sentence

Convicted killer Denecho King fought back tears as he pleaded with a NWT Supreme Court judge to impose the minimum sentence for second-degree murder during a hearing Friday.

“I, Denecho King, am deeply sorry …,” he said, standing to address Justice Andrew Mahar in a tense and emotionally-charged Yellowknife courtroom.

“Nothing I say or do will change the past,” he said, reading from pages of prepared notes.

His voice faltering, King implored Mahar to impose a parole ineligibility period of 10 years. Second-degree murder convictions trigger automatic life sentences with a minimum parole ineligibility period of 10 years and a maximum period of 25 years.

King's lawyer, Jay Bran, asked the court to consider a parole ineligibility period of 10 to 12 years.

Prosecutor Jill Andrews called for a 17-year sentence to reflect the brutality and callousness of the “random” December 2014 attack that took the life of John Wifladt and seriously injured Colin Digness.

King, who was convicted of second-degree murder and aggravated assault, has never admitted guilt in the deadly sword attack.

While King apologized, going on to say he “felt bad” about the stress that’s been caused to his family and the victims’ families, he avoided addressing the murder or the victims directly, and didn’t accept outright responsibility for the killing.

‘Neglected and abused’

“I am a young Indigenous (man) who grew up in the streets of Yellowknife,” the soft-spoken King continued.

King told the court he had no authority figures growing up, and looked to older friends on the streets as his role models.

At one point, King appeared to break down.

“It’s just so hard, you know?” King said to Mahar.

King said he felt “abused and neglected” throughout his childhood – an experience detailed in his pre-sentence report – an examination into the circumstances and background of an offender before sentencing.

Jay Bran said his client dropped out of school at a young age, and quickly learned he could provide for himself by selling drugs and living a criminal lifestyle.

Bran said King and his brothers had to protect their mother from violence.

King wrote he “always felt scared,” as a child, a comment that “struck” Mahar.

The offender has been in and out of jail regularly since he was 16 years old.

While the0 prosecutor acknowledged the profound Gladue factors present in King’s life, including the lasting impact of the residential school system, she said the factors didn’t warrant a reduced sentence.

Even after King committed the murder, he violently assaulted a cab driver while on probation in February 2015, said Andrews. In August 2016, just months later while in remand custody at North Slave Correctional Centre, he escaped jail.

Andrews said King’s conduct post-murder shows a continuation of violent, criminal behaviour.

She said King has made no movement toward rehabilitation.

King, Bran said, has been taking anger management courses and has seen a psychologist in recent years, adding different people deal with their trauma at different paces.

But Andrews said King's acknowledgment of his anger issues in the pre-sentence report doesn’t go far enough.

“King is in denial of how serious his anger problem is,” said Andrews.

“The public must be protected from this dangerous and explosive offender,” she said.

King, who told the court he’s “aggressive by nature,” said he wants to get the sentencing over with so he can benefit from the federal penitentiary programs offered down south.

King said the territory's corrections service had “failed him.”

Justice Mahar is expected to hand down a sentencing decision Nov. 26.