The 16-year-old youth who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Brandy Vittrekwa in December 2014 will be sentenced next week.

Crown prosecutor David McWhinnie and defence lawyer David Tarnow spent all day in court Tuesday questioning experts who assessed the youth following his arrest last year.

The Crown has applied to have the Whitehorse teenager sentenced as an adult.

A psychologist, probation officer and longtime justice worker told the court the youth’s best chance for rehabilitation is to have him sentenced as a youth.

Sending him through the adult system would not provide the one-on-one counselling available in the youth justice system. It would also introduce the young teenager to older, high-risk criminals, the court was told by Anne Pleydon, a doctor of psychology.

Pleydon said research shows sentencing youth as adults is not effective and in fact can increase the chance of the youth re-offending.

Territorial court Judge Peter Chisolm said he will deliver his sentence on June 16.

Nothing that would identify the youth can be published because he is a young offender.

McWhinnie told the judge that if he elected to sentence the youth as an adult, a sentence of four to six years would be appropriate, given the circumstances.

An adult sentence minus the year-plus the youth has already been in custody would work out to about the same as the maximum three-year sentence allowed for under the youth justice system, he told the judge.

At a court appearance last February, the Crown and defence lawyers presented an agreed statement of facts. The youth subsequently pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a lesser offence included in the charge of second-degree murder.

Through the entire hearing yesterday, the accused sat quietly and still, but was attentive.

Clad in a suit jacket and dress slacks, he rose at the very end of the day to read a brief statement to the family of the victim, some of whom were in the courtroom, as were some of his family.

“Your honour, I feel horrible for what I did to Brandy’s family, to Brandy, her friends and family and anyone else who were affected by my actions and my actions alone,” the 16-year-old told the court.

“There are no words that could fully express how sorry I am for what I have done.

“I am trying very hard to change my life and make the most of it.”

Evidence before the court indicates the youth had invited Vittrekwa to drink alcohol at a friend’s home in the McIntyre subdivision.

She had laughed off a couple of a attempts by the younger youth to kiss her during the evening.

Both were drunk when they left the residence together that December night, after the accused offered to accompany her.

She was found dead the next day on a walking trail in the subdivision with blunt force trauma to her face.

Her jaw had been broken. The scene was bloody. The beating has been described in court as horrific.

The psychologist said the youth told her as he walked toward the Alaska Highway after the attack, he wondered if Vittrekwa was dead, he wondered if he had killed her.

She told the court his thoughts as he walked were more a reflection of his extreme intoxication than callousness, having left Vittrekwa unconscious and alone in the cold.

One of the girl’s aunts began reading a victim impact statement to the court Tuesday, though a court worker had to finish as the aunt became overwhelmed with emotion.

Sobbing could be heard in the gallery as the statement was read.

The court heard how Vittrekwa’s mother and father were unable to provide a victim impact statement, as they could not find a way to put their grief and sorrow to paper.

Their inability to provide a statement should speak volumes on its own about the depth of their despair, the Crown prosecutor suggested.

As a young boy of aboriginal ancestry, the accused’s upbringing was troubled, his parents suffering from the intergenerational effects of Indian residential school, the court heard.

The defence lawyer told the court those effects – substance abuse, violence – are very real and run very deep, and were very much a part of the youth’s life growing up.

They played a significant role in the plight facing his client, Tarnow suggested.

He told the court during the year his client has been in custody, he has demonstrated a sincere desire to turn things around and gain more insight to the issues facing him.

“He is remorseful, regretful and ashamed of himself for committing the offence,” Tarnow told the court.

He said with rehabilitation, the youth can begin living a life free of violence.

As all three experts testified, the accused would be much better off in the youth justice system, where there are greater opportunities for counselling and rehabilitation.

A sentence in youth court would open the door to full participation by his family in his rehabilitation, the court heard.

The court was told how the facility for young offenders in Burnaby, B.C., provides housing for families who want to be close so they can provide support. The facility assists in securing employment opportunities for family members.

Tarnow said a three-year sentence to Burnaby would provide for the rehabilitation program recommended by the experts.

It would involve 18 months’ incarceration and counselling followed by 18 months of structured re-intergration back into the community, he said.

Dr. Pleydon told the court that without a proper rehabilitation program, the youth is a high risk to re-offend.

She did not buy a subtle suggestion by the Crown prosecutor that the youth, who had a record of violence as a 14-year-old prior to Vittrekwa’s death, was simply saying and doing what he had to do to stay in the youth justice system; that he’s learned how to play the system.

If the youth was complicated and sophisticated, an adult sentence would be appropriate, but such is not the case with this youth, Pleydon told the court.

Pleydon told the judge when the youth is not stressed or under the influence of drugs and alcohol, his goals to become a positive member of the community are “genuine.”