A Kwadacha man found guilty of fatally shooting his wife more than three years ago was sentenced March 30 to another two years and six days in jail.
In the oral decision, published April 2, BC Supreme Court Justice Sandra Sukstorf sentenced Brent Angus McCook, 28, to a total of six years and nine months, plus three years on probation. The jail sentence was reduced due to credit for pre-trial custody.
Last June 17, Sukstorf acquitted McCook of second-degree murder because he was too drunk to form intent to kill Rochelle Poole on Jan. 24, 2023. But he was found guilty of manslaughter for causing her death.
For reasons unknown, McCook loaded his .308-calibre Tikka rifle and fired it twice from within his residence in the town, also known as Fort Ware, toward his parked truck outside. Two bullets passed through the windshield. One fatally struck Poole in the head while she sat in the passenger seat.
Crown sought a 16-year jail sentence, less credit for pre-trial custody, because of the use of a firearm at close range and the death of an Indigenous intimate partner who allegedly suffered abuse.
Defence asked for five years in jail, less time served.
In proposing the shorter sentence, McCook’s defence lawyer, Lisa Helps, emphasized his lack of criminal record, Indigenous background, sobriety in custody, remorse and desire to care for his two children.
“Although McCook’s moral blameworthiness is attenuated by the absence of planning, motive or deliberate targeting, the gravity of the harm and the lethal risk created by the use of a firearm require a substantial custodial sentence,” Sukstorf said.
McCook was severely drunk and suffering significant cognitive and motor impairment after 17 hours of excessive drinking when he fired the rifle. He did not know that Poole was in the vehicle and there was no evidence of an argument in the hours leading up to the incident. Their demeanour was described as calm and affectionate, despite an earlier disagreement over Ski-Doo keys.
“While the forensic evidence established the direction of fire, it did not demonstrate visibility into the vehicle, deliberate targeting or purposeful aim at Poole,” Sukstorf said.
Poole was likely asleep, unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, and her body was found slumped with alcohol in her lap.
McCook did not attempt to flee. The judge said witnesses and police officers described him as “incoherent, erratic, confused and severely impaired immediately before and after the offence.”
Sukstorf found McCook’s crime within the “middle portion” of the manslaughter range. Mitigating factors include systemic and intergenerational forces, including early removal from his family, the legacy of Indigenous residential schools and normalization of alcohol abuse.
Kwadacha has assumed interest in McCook’s rehabilitation through a structured plan for reintegration, based on accountability, sobriety, healing and community safety.
The plan, Sukstorf said, “includes expectations designed to support both his rehabilitation and the community’s need to heal and, in time, move toward forgiveness.”
Sukstorf also banned McCook from possessing firearms for life, except to hunt, and ordered him to provide a DNA sample.
