By Canadian Press

Sentencing for Alberta teen found guilty of shooting German tourist

Apr 23, 2020 | 2:08 AM

CALGARY — A sentencing hearing is to be held today for a youth found guilty of shooting a German tourist in the head on a highway west of Calgary in 2018.

Last October, a judge convicted the teen from the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, who is now 18, of aggravated assault and recklessly discharging a firearm into a vehicle.

Because he was 16 at the time, he cannot be identified.

Court heard that Horst Stewin was driving a black SUV on the First Nation’s land in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with his family when someone in a passing car shot him. His vehicle veered off the highway and crashed into some trees.

Stewin survived and was taken back to Germany, where doctors removed eight bullet fragments from his brain. He is paralyzed on his right side, gets confused and has memory issues.

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The trial heard how Stewin and his family were in the area because Stewin liked to ride horses and was a fan of the western lifestyle.

Stewin’s wife told police that a vehicle passed by with its front passenger window rolled down and that a man wearing a ball cap shot her husband. She said she heard a pop and smelled smoke before Stewin slumped forward.

The trial heard that the shooting was likely to have been a case of mistaken identity.

Three other people who were in the car with the teen testified that he was the shooter, although they said they had not actually watched him pull the trigger.

The car’s driver testified that he and his three passengers had been drinking vodka and smoking meth that day. He said he thought the black SUV belonged to a man who had beaten up his younger brother.

The defence argued that the witness statements were hard to believe, but the judge disagreed.

Both a Gladue report, which considers an offender’s Indigenous background as part of sentencing, and a psychological assessment were ordered.

Because of the COVID-19 lockdown, lawyers in the case are to give their sentencing submissions to Judge George Gaschler by telephone.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2020

— Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press