Man gets 75 days in jail for uttering threats with firearm

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2025 (251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Canupawakpa man was sentenced to 75 days in custody on Friday for threatening another man with a firearm.

Kevin Sutherland, 47, pleaded guilty in Virden provincial court to unauthorized possession of a firearm and uttering threats.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta sentenced him to 45 days for the firearms charge and 30 days for the threats. Sutherland has spent 80 days in custody, which, at enhanced credit, is 120 days. He remains in jail as he deals with other matters before the court.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read out the facts behind the charges.

Police received several 911 calls on Oct. 9, 2024, and were told that Sutherland had a long-calibre rifle and was threatening to kill another man at Sutherland’s residence in Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation.

“It’s alleged that these threats were being made over family disputes and arguments that were being had in the community,” Kok said.

When police got to the home, they were shown a BB gun, which Sutherland said he owned. Police arrested Sutherland and got a search warrant for the residence, which they executed the next day. Police found a blue rifle with a scope on it and a large firearms case in a shed on the property, along with ammunition and a gun cleaning kit in the residence.

Kok said officers noted that the trigger lock and the bolt action were missing on the rifle, “making a little bit more concerning.” She said it also indicated to the police that the gun had recently been utilized.

Kok said there was a roughly eight-second video of the incident, which she described to the court.

“In the video you see the firearm in question,” she said. “And you hear a voice, which was later identified to be that of Mr. Sutherland, yelling, saying, quote, ‘You’ve got it coming.’

“There’s no discharge on the video, there’s no allegations that the firearm was actually utilized other than when he was holding it and making the threats towards (the victim),” she said.

Sutherland was arrested and released on a $1,000 promise to pay at a bail hearing, where the Crown was opposed.

Kok said the victim was not co-operative with prosecution, saying he didn’t want to give a formal statement to police out of fear of retaliation, but she noted several police officers and civilian witnesses were scheduled to testify if the case went to trial.

She said Sutherland’s lengthy criminal record is an aggravating factor, but acknowledged that it’s dated and doesn’t include firearms convictions.

Kok said the Crown would usually ask for a fine for a first-time firearms offence, but because of the nature of the incident, she believed time in custody was appropriate.

“It’s the combination of the firearm with the threat that causes the Crown some concerns for the public safety,” she said. “A small community that doesn’t directly have police officers on scene. So, we are lucky that this incident was a threat and that the firearm was not actually utilized or discharged.”

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison agreed with the Crown’s suggested sentence and pointed out that the court is only hearing half of the story.

He said Sutherland’s mother had alcohol issues, which caused him to go into Child and Family Services care at the age of two, and he had a brother who went to residential school.

Despite his difficult childhood, Sutherland and his mother were very close in his adult years. He also had a close relationship with his grandmother, who raised him for much of his childhood. Both have died in recent years. Sutherland’s twin sister also died roughly a year ago, Harrison said.

“He’s still suffering from that. He’s still suffering from depression,” he said. “He’s had tragedies.”

Hewitt-Michta agreed the lawyers’ recommendation was appropriate.

“There’s always more to the story, I think, than what I hear, so I get it. I get that there was probably more to what was going on here,” Hewitt-Michta said. “The only thing you can do at this point is focus on your part in it and learning from that.”

» sanderson@brandonsun.com