Edmonton judge rejects 'unhinged' sentence proposed for Indigenous stabber - National Post

The Edmonton Law Courts, Monday June 8, 2026. Photo by David Bloom /PostmediaArticle contentAn Edmonton judge has rejected a joint sentence recommendation as “unhinged” for an Indigenous man who stabbed a stranger in the buttocks during a group mugging less than two months after he was released on bail on conditions prohibiting him from possessing any weapons.

Shaye Riley Bird, who still had the bloody knife on him, as well as blood on his pants when police picked him up, pleaded guilty in Alberta’s Court of Justice to the May 3, 2026, assault causing bodily harm and breaching the conditions of his release in March. Both his defence lawyer and the Crown recommended Bird get 180 days in jail for the assault, and another 30 days to be served concurrently, for the bail breach.

“This case features several errors in principle. They result in a proposition that constitutes one of those rare instances — a joint submission that is unhinged from what would be reasonable,” Justice Steven Bilodeau wrote in an Oct. 21 decision.

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The judge concluded he could not accept the recommended sentence for three reasons.

“First, it does not adequately reflect the gravity of this random group attack with a knife,” Bilodeau said.

“Second, it gives no meaningful effect to the serious and lasting impact upon the victim. Third, the proposed concurrent sentence leaves the separate breach of the weapons condition without any meaningful sanction.”

Instead, the judge sentenced Bird to 18 months in jail — 14 months for the assault and another four months for the bail breach to be served consecutively — tripling the recommendation from defence and Crown lawyers, while noting “it is no small thing” to reject their joint submission.

Bird’s “conduct bears many of the hallmarks of a street mugging,” Bilodeau said. “It has been long-settled law in Alberta that these merit significant incarceration if they are to be deterred effectively, if at all.”

The attack was “perpetrated by a group or mob,” said the judge. “Being outnumbered changes the entire dynamic of the assault.”