Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic details of violence.
The death of Eric Bouchard outside a home in La Ronge in 2022 was stupid and senseless, a provincial courtroom in Prince Albert heard in late December.
Bouchard was shot but was likely still alive when now 21-year-old Kurt Ratt and River Miller dragged him to a nearby lake and put a sandbag on his head to keep his body from floating to the surface.
Ratt pleaded guilty to manslaughter in July, a reduction from his original charge of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years of jail.
Judge J. Danyliuk dismissed Ratt’s lawyer’s statement that the death was closer to manslaughter than it was to murder.
“This was truly a senseless crime. No real explanation has ever been provided. Mr. Ratt’s shooting of Mr. Bouchard was not related to any danger or threat. He could have withdrawn from the situation. There was absolutely no need for him to shoot anyone. The crime was stupid, senseless. Mr. Ratt acted in a manner entirely unacceptable and as a result another person lost his life,” wrote Danyliuk in a recently published sentencing decision.
Danyliuk also did not give the Crown its request of at least 16 years, instead sentencing Ratt to 15 years, less a remand credit of 846 days.
According to the agreed statement of facts, RCMP in La Ronge were called to a home on Bells Point Road in La Ronge on May 17, 2022 just before 4 a.m.
Callers reported gunshots and said two men, identified as Ratt and Miller, were dragging a body to the lake.
When officers arrived, they found Ratt trying to leave the scene while Miller was hiding in the house.
Const. MacDonald found Bouchard submerged in the lake with the sandbag on his head and thought he saw breath coming from his mouth and heard a gurgling sound.
Despite CPR being used and transport to the hospital, Bouchard died from the gunshot wound to his neck.
In the time leading up to the shooting, Bouchard and another man were in the yard working on an SUV when Miller and Ratt approached them.
Ratt was heard arguing with Bouchard, with the confrontation escalating to the point that Ratt pulled out a .22 caliber bolt action rifle and shot Bouchard, who was not armed. The gun was not recovered, so investigators couldn’t determine if it had been sawed off or not, which would be an aggravating factor.
An uninvolved witness tried to grab the rifle but was then beaten on the head by Miller, who used the gun to hit him until the rifle broke.
Other witnesses said they heard three gunshots and one of them saw Ratt and Miller dragging Bouchard to the lake.
The pathologist reported that the gunshot was what killed Bouchard but noted he was still alive when being dragged to the water.
Court heard that while Ratt had no criminal history as an adult, his youth record is lengthy.
In deciding the sentence, Danyliuk said that while Ratt cited Gladue factors as a mitigating circumstance, his father spent only four days in residential school and said he did not have bad experiences there.
Danyliuk did accept that Ratt grew up in an environment that including family breakdown and abusebut believed that Ratt voluntarily became involved with “a bad element.”
“To an extent he is a product of his background but to a greater extent he is a product of his own choices, including a refusal to obtain help when it is offered,” Danyliuk wrote.
An apology for his action was not believed so no mitigating factor for remorse was taken into account.
“Mr. Ratt presents to me as highly culpable. His involvement in criminality, his specific conduct within the context of this crime, and his general conduct are all aggravating factors. The need for denunciation and deterrence in cases such as this ranks high within my consideration of apposite sentencing factors,” Danyliuk said in the decision.
When he shot Bouchard, Ratt was under two weapons bans and yet still carried a concealed gun and has on five occasions escaped lawful custody.
A pre-sentence report determined that Ratt has no insight into how he could have done anything differently and that he takes no responsibility for his own actions.
Instead, he blamed the community environment for his actions.
He is also in the 96th percentile for reoffending and has had gang associations in the past.
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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com
