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"It is an atmosphere unlike any other," said Grade 12 student Andie Williams.
A courtroom inside the Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench was packed with Megan Gallagher’s friends and family as the judge handed down a seven-year sentence each for two women involved in her death.
The Métis mother was last seen in Saskatoon in 2020 on video surveillance at a convenience store on Diefenbaker Drive.
Two years later her remains were found along the South Saskatchewan River.
Megan Michelle Gallagher was last seen leaving a friend’s house in Saskatoon on Sept. 19, 2020.
(Facebook)
The judge-alone first-degree murder trial for 31-year-old Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce and 26-year-old Summer-Sky Henry was set for 39 days but was cut short when they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
With time already served, Peeteetuce has almost six years left in federal prison, and Henry just over five.
The sentence handed by Justice Mona Dovell came from a joint submission made by both the Crown and Defence.
Peeteetuce and Henry are also prohibited from owning weapons and must follow no-contact orders.
Summer-Sky Henry pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the first degree murder trial of Megan Gallagher on Jan. 16, 2025. (Saskatoon Police Service/Submitted)
“We’re not okay… this is not okay,” Brian Gallagher, Megan’s father, said outside of the courthouse.
Brian, surrounded by friends and family, expressed disappointment in the decision.
“The people that have perpetrated this, I think they are laughing at the justice system,” he said to reporters.
He had first described the news of the guilty plea back in January as a “kick in the gut.”
Justice Richard Danyliuk granted an interim publication ban applied for by Crown Prosecutor Tyla Olenchuk preventing any details presented within the trial from being reported on.
The publication ban will also protect the upcoming jury trials later this year for Thomas Sutherland and Roderick Sutherland, who are also charged in connection to Gallagher’s death.
Brian said he feels “torn” about what to expect during the final court proceedings.
“I’m really scared that more of this is going to happen, and it’s a real injustice to our society,” he said.
Brian and Debbie Gallagher with other family members outside Saskatoon Provincial Court on June 2, 2022. (Brent Bosker/650 CKOM)
The trials continue on April 28 for Thomas Sutherland’s manslaughter charge. Roderick Sutherland’s first-degree murder trial will begin in October.
On Dec. 6 at Saskatoon’s King’s Bench, 29-year-old Robert James Joseph Thomas was sentenced to life in prison for the second-degree murder of Gallagher.
Nine people have been arrested in the Gallagher investigation.