C-Train killer to serve 12 years before parole eligibility

Natalie Pasqua, who pushed a teenager into an oncoming C-Train, will have to serve 12 years in prison before she can apply for parole, a Calgary judge decided Wednesday.

A jury convicted Pasqua, 27, of second-degree murder on Feb. 21 in the death of Gage Prevost, 17. The conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison. Wednesday's hearing determined how long she would be kept in custody before being eligible for parole.

The Crown argued for at least 12 to 14 years. The defence was seeking the minimum 10 years before parole eligibility, which the jury had recommended.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Rooke decided 12 years was appropriate. He cited Pasqua's criminal record and said she did not have to resort to fighting on the C-Train platform to settle the disagreement with Prevost.

Before the ruling, Pasqua tearfully apologized to the Prevost family in court.

"I am very sorry for the stupidity on that day," she said. "I apologize every single day of my life. I apologize."

She added: "It was an accident because I am not a murderer."

Rooke recommended that Pasqua serve her sentence in Saskatchewan so she could be closer to her two children, aged five and 11. She is originally from the Muskowekan First Nation, about 140 kilometres southeast of Regina.

Group alleges conviction tainted

A representative from the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism and Pasqua's mother were at Wednesday's sentencing hearing to argue that the murder conviction is too harsh.

"Obviously, racism comes into play," said Bob Hughes of the coalition. "We had a jury that sat for 2.5 hours to come back with a verdict."

Dale Prevost, Gage's father, rejected the suggestion that race played in role in Pasqua's conviction.

"It doesn't matter what colour you are, you are in Canada and you deal with the Criminal Code," he said outside the courthouse.

"Like I said in my victim impact statement and like the judge says, we don't get Gage back, but we got Canadian justice so the family is very happy."

Prevost was unmoved by Pasqua's tearful apology in court.

"I wholeheartedly reject her apology. I don't accept it," he told reporters. "What do you mean why? My son is not here, that's why."

Pasqua will appeal conviction

Pasqua's lawyer, Andre Ouellette, said his client should have only been convicted of manslaughter, and that they will appeal the murder conviction because the judge's original charge to the jury was so "convoluted."

"I am not pleased," Ouellette said of the judge's sentence. "I thought in these circumstances that the minimum was appropriate. There was no way in my opinion that there was anything that aggravated it past the minimum by law."

The trial heard that Prevost and Pasqua were scuffling over a $10 drug deal for crack cocaine when the teenager pushed Pasqua onto the empty LRT tracks downtown on Aug. 1, 2007.

Witnesses testified she climbed back onto the platform and struggled with Prevost before pushing him twice into the oncoming train. Pasqua maintained in court that she didn't mean to kill the teenager.

Evidence entered in court showed that Prevost had a blood-alcohol reading more than three times the legal driving limit as well as cocaine in his system when he died.