The lengthy saga of a Watson Lake man who admitted to fatally beating an 87-year-old man ended this morning in Whitehorse with a sentence of fewer than five years handed down in territorial court.

Alfred Thomas Chief Jr. was arrested in 2016 in the death of Olson Wolftail.

Judge Michael Cozens handed down a four year, 7 1/2-month sentence. Because Chief has already spent time in custody, the sentence will tack on an added two years minus a day to time he has already served.

The 33-year-old man has anger issues and issues with alcoholism, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He will also be subject to a three-year probation and 10-year firearms ban.

Chief’s lawyer, Jenny Cunningham, had asked for four years in prison and a three-year probation period. The Crown had argued for a six- to eight-year prison sentence.

Chief’s guilty plea and a number of mitigating factors were taken into consideration in the sentence, Cozens said: namely, his struggle with alcoholism and background as a child of residential school survivors.

After delivering the sentence, Cozens directly addressed Chief, who sat in a red jumpsuit next to Cunningham.

Noting that some of the information he read from the FASD diagnoses may have sounded negative, Cozens assured that it was not too late to try to turn his life around.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t have a positive life,” he told Chief.

Referencing some of the younger members in the room behind Chief, Cozens said the man owed it to his children and family to begin healing.

“But most of all, you owe it to Mr. Wolftail’s family,” he said. “You have a debt to discharge.”

That would help provide “what little you can in accountability – that’s your responsibility and society’s expectations,” Cozens added.

Chief is also to serve 120 hours of community service and not have contact with a list of more than a dozen individuals provided by the Crown prosecutor, Leo Lane. That list included children, grandchildren and in some cases, great grandchildren.

With Watson Lake being a small community, though, the judge acknowledged this may be difficult, as it could lead to “incidental or unintentional contact.

“Today I went into more detail than perhaps I normally would,” Cozens said earlier in his delivery, noting he normally does not like to dive into personal matters as much.

But the victim impact statements showed significant changes in the Wolftail family’s lives that were important, as well as the community impact.

With a number of young children in the room, Cozens stopped early in his sentencing as he went over some of the graphic details involving the death. He offered guardians the opportunity to remove the children from the room. None immediately left.

The fatal Dec. 22, 2016 incident saw Chief and Wolftail at the elderly man’s home in Watson Lake, drinking together.

Wolftail lived with his son and daughter-in-law, who is also Chief’s mother – the judge acknowledged that Chief viewed Wolftail as his grandfather.

Sometime after midnight, Chief began beating Wolftail, leading his mother to call for help.

Once RCMP officers arrived, they found Wolftail dead in a storage room and Chief passed out on a couch, and arrested him.

Chief was unable to recall what had happened as they had been heavily drinking. Cozens said he also resisted arrest and had to be tied down to a chair because he was hitting the wall.

Something diminishing Chief’s moral blameworthiness was his FASD and Gladue factors, as well as his guilty plea. However, the violent circumstances around the death had to also be taken into consideration, Cozens said.

Referencing a number of victim impact statements delivered earlier in court, Cozens said they showed that the “death was devastating.”

Wolftail was described as the glue that held his family together, he said, noting that one statement showed the family had been “‘shattered beyond repair.

“‘It’s shocking to my heart and soul,’” the judge added.

The sentence was not to be taken as a measure nor reflection of Wolftail’s life: “(he) worked hard and overcame many obstacles in his life.

“The value of Mr. Wolftail’s life is priceless.”

Meanwhile he acknowledged that Chief’s mother was not in his life as a child, leaving his father to raise him alone. The man showed signs of anger when speaking about his mother, he added.

Perhaps as a result of his FASD, Chief tended to be impulsive and inattentive. His personality assessment showed “substantial abuse issues (that were) above average,” Cozens said, as well as other problematic personality issues.

The expectation that he behave according to most of the norms of society may perhaps be unfair, Cozens said.

The principle of general deterrence – that is, the impact or message that is sent to the public at large when delivering a legal punishment – should then be “carefully applied in FASD offenders,” Cozens added.

Impulsive interactions, the lack of control and cognitive effects of FASD were thus mitigating factors.

This resulted in his being on a number of medications for anxiety and depression, as well as some antipsychotic medications.

Cunningham had said earlier that her client had been drinking since the age of eight, and showed remorse for his actions.

Chief has a criminal record of about 40 offences since 2005, but showed that he wanted to take responsibility for what Cozens called the “brutal attack” on “a vulnerable elder.”

The violence taking place at Wolftail’s home was an aggravating factor, Cozens said: “a place where he should have been safe.”

Among the mitigating factors were Chief’s guilty plea, the remorse he showed, psychological counselling and help he had sought, paired with his FASD, which reduced the moral blameworthiness.

The judge referenced this in his decision when looking at other cases, saying that “the fundamental principle of sentencing is proportionality.” That would mean factoring in the degree of responsibility the offender was willing to assume.

The judge noted that it was perhaps unfair for intoxication to be an aggravating factor, as those living with FASD were “already starting at a disadvantage.”

Cozens also referenced a letter submitted that detailed some of Chief’s involvement in seeking supports from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Society Yukon and others.

“Sadly, that was one month before committing this offence,” he said, shaking his head.

The judge also made reference to a number of past decisions and sentences. In at least one, the Indigenous status of the offender was important, along with their “interest in restorative justice.”

Cozens said it was important for him to consider the “destructive forces of residential schools and governmental policies” that led to some of those situations.

Quoting other cases, the judge said there was much work to be done to ensure those underserved are supported with the right services like education and employment.

“It’s one thing to make a verbal apology” to those who are living with the history of colonization, he said. It’s quite another for governments to invest in tangible services, programs and other changes in approaches.

“In my opinion it’s often insufficient,” he said, but that is the reality that many Indigenous residents are faced with in the justice system. “It is a sad reality.”

The probation order means Chief must stay in the Yukon and abide by a curfew. He is also to avoid alcohol, from which the judge suggested he should abstain for the rest of his life.

“If Mr. Chief doesn’t, I believe his life will unravel.”

A five-year sentence would have been appropriate, Cozens added.

But since Chief was arrested in 2016, the judge considered the amount of time he has already served.