Whitehorse man gets 4 years, 7 months in jail for beating 87-year-old to death

Alfred Chief, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to manslaughter in the 2016 death of Olson Wolftail in Watson Lake, will serve another two years (less a day) in jail, followed by three years probation.

Chief, 33, was sentenced in Yukon Territorial Court on Friday to a total of four years, seven and a half months jail — minus time already served.

Chief admitted to beating Wolftail with a liquor bottle, on Dec. 22, 2016, at Wolftail's Watson Lake home. According to an agree statement of facts, the two were "highly intoxicated" at the time.

Chief has said he has no recollection of the attack. He has also not said why he attacked Wolftail.

Judge Mike Cozens noted that Wolftail's family has been shattered by his death.

But he said he could not ignore Chief's background. Chief was born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and began drinking as a child.

Cozens said the sad reality is that treatment for people like Chief is often insufficient.

The judge, however, told Chief that upon his release he can hold a job and he can raise his children.

"You owe it to your family," Cozens said, "but most of all you owe it to the family of Mr Wolftail."

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of six to eight years for Chief, while defence lawyers argued for two years, on top of the time Chief has already served at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

At this sentencing hearing in June, Chief said he was "truly sorry," for the pain he'd caused Wolftail's family, and said he'd have to live with that for the rest of his life.