Brandy Vittrekwa's killer gets 2 years jail, 1 year supervision

A teenageboy who admitted to killing Brandy Vittrekwaa year and a half agoin Whitehorsehas been sentenced to two years in jail, andone year in community supervision.

It's the maximum allowable sentence for a young offender charged with manslaughter. The boy has been in custody since April 2015, but will receive no credit for time served.

He cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Crown prosecutors hadargued that the boy's criminal past at the time of the killinghe wasalready serving a community sentence for an equally violent assaultand thecallous nature ofVittrekwa'skillingwarrantedan adult sentence.

Judge Peter Chisholm rejected that.

"He's unsophisticated and immature for his age," said JudgeChisholm as he delivered the sentence on Thursday.

"It's the reason we treat youths differently."

An adult sentence could have meant four to six years in jail.

Family, friends 'severely devastated'

The Whitehorse courtroom was packed as Chisholmdelivered the sentence. He reviewed the boy's troubled, violent family history and spoke of the boy's recentefforts to upgrade his education and curb his temper.

• 'I'm trying hard to change my life,' says teen who killed Brandy Vittrekwa

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The boy, who was 15 at the time of the crime, admitted to beating Vittrekwaunconscious and leaving her to die in the snow, in December 2014.Both had been walking home from a drinking party and were severely intoxicated, though Vittrekwa was the drunker of the two, Chisholm said.

Vittrekwawas living in Whitehorse with her family but was originally from Fort McPherson, N.W.T.

On Wednesday, a day ahead of the sentencing, a group of demonstrators gathered in front of the Yukon courthouse, with signs demanding "Justice for Brandy."

Outside the courtroom on Thursday, Vittrekwa's family and friends hugged each other and cried.

"We are all severely devastated by this," said one of the grieving family members who didn't want to be identified.

Prosecutors say Vittrekwa's killerwill likely be placed in a secure facility in southern B.C. for his twoyears in custody.

When that's done, the judge will review the young man's time in custody to determine what conditions should be placed on the12 months he willserve in the community.