SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - The family of a teenage boy stabbed to death at a house party in Saskatoon 21/2 years ago is speaking out about their struggle to come to grips with the tragedy.

In a recent interview with CBC News, Diana Sproat said she'll never forget being woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night to learn her son Justin, 17, had been knifed and was on his way to a hospital.

A few hours later, on the morning of Aug. 6, 2005, a doctor delivered the news that Justin had died.

"We sat there, stunned," she said. "I will never forget it. And a priest came in. It's like things were happening and we were watching them."

Both Diana and Dean, Justin's father, took time off from their jobs. The stress of trying to cope with their loss was more than they could handle at times, they said.

"I remember at the first week ... we knew he was gone but we expected him to walk though the door," Dean Sproat said.

The court process, and the long wait between their son's death and the conviction, was also hard on them, the Sproats said.

Bailey Bradley Lonechild was charged with second-degree murder. He was scheduled to go on trial March 3, but instead pleaded guilty to the lesser and included charge of manslaughter.

Hat dispute preceded fight: witnesses

No details of what happened on the night of Justin Sproat's death were heard that day, but at a preliminary hearing, court heard Sproat was stabbed following a dispute over a hat.

Witnesses testified Sproat snatched a ball cap from one of the other teens at the party and gave it to one of his friends. The young man who lost his hat said Sproat threatened to beat him up if he made an issue of it.

The same witness said Lonechild goaded him into asking for his hat back, showed him a knife and said he would back him up if there was trouble.

When Sproat rebuffed the young man whose hat was taken, Lonechild stepped in, the court was told.

Some witnesses said Lonechild pushed Sproat, then Sproat started punching Lonechild. Others said only words were exchanged before Sproat started hitting Lonechild.

Court heard Lonechild was seen pulling a knife from his pocket. It wasn't clear exactly when Sproat was stabbed, except that it happened inside the house.

Sproat and Lonechild moved out onto the street, where Sproat collapsed, bleeding from a stab wound to his chest. Lonechild, also bleeding, walked away from the scene.

Diana said while she doesn't excuse her son's behaviour in taking the hat, he wouldn't be the first teen to do something stupid and it shouldn't have cost him his life.

"You get a chance to grow up," she said. "You get a chance to be an adult, looking back at your teen years saying, 'Oh yeah, I did a lot of stupid things.' Justin doesn't get that chance."

Justin's sister Chaela agreed with her mother that it's wrong to dwell on the hat.

"We need to remember what Lonechild took that night," she said. "Justin is never coming back. Lonechild took my only brother. He took my parents' only son. He took so many years from Justin."

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