Man sentenced to 9 years in prison for Cape Breton manslaughter from 2021

The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia is pictured. (Callum Smith/CTV News Atlantic)

On Jan. 18, 2021, David Sheppard was sitting in his home in Glace Bay, N.S., when a masked man reportedly showed up and beat him several times with a small bat. Sheppard’s girlfriend ran across the street and told a neighbour to call 911. Despite the beating, Sheppard was walking around the house when police arrived at the scene.

Paramedics took Sheppard to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital and he later went to the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax by flight. He was pronounced dead nine days later.

The Nova Scotia Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the cause of death as blunt head trauma.

More than a year later, police arrested two men who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection to Sheppard’s death.

These were the facts of the case laid out in Justice Patrick J. Duncan’s written decision on the sentencing of Stephen Troy MacDonald, one of the accused.

The other accused, Dakota Williams, was previously sentenced to nine years in prison. MacDonald received the same sentence, but due to his remand credit, his actual sentence will be closer to five years.

“The facts of this offence are uncomplicated,” the written decision reads. “Mr. MacDonald, accompanied by Dakota Williams, attended the victim’s home intending to collect a drug debt.

“Mr. MacDonald has admitted to hitting Mr. Sheppherd once and entered a guilty plea to this charge. In doing so he admits that his actions were unlawful and contributed to Mr. Sheppherd’s death. That admission is sufficient to support the guilty plea.”

According to the agreed facts of the case, video footage showed two suspects entering the home through the back door, each wearing head coverings and carrying weapons. Screams can be heard and someone saying, “Pay your bills.”

The suspects were then seen running from the residence and into a vehicle.

In November 2021, Michael Gillis, who was in lockup for an unrelated incident, told police that MacDonald had told him about beating Sheppard.

In June 2022, according to the facts, MacDonald had another conversation with Gillis about his involvement in Sheppard’s death that was recorded. MacDonald said Williams struck Sheppard with an axe handle and MacDonald hit Sheppard once.

Police then arrested and charged MacDonald and Williams.

Justice Duncan’s decision notes that MacDonald, 45, was involved in a “dangerous and illegal lifestyle” at the time of the offence, but he seems to have made a commitment to rehabilitation.

“It is always hard to gauge a person’s potential for true rehabilitation,” the decision reads. “At his age, it will fall to him to decide what life he wants to lead. He will have been in jail a long time. If he is in serious trouble again, if there is a next time, it is likely to be for longer time.

“It will be up to him as to whether he spends the last part of his life in jail or returns to society and leads a law-abiding life. There will still be challenges in his life, but he seems better prepared for them than perhaps he has ever been, and I am encouraged by that.”

Duncan sentenced MacDonald to nine years in jail, but due to his remand credit of 1,526 days, his actual sentence will be 1,762 days, which is just under five years.

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