Man sentenced to 18 years in 2020 murder

One of two people charged in the murder of Earl Francis Dufour has pleaded guilty and will be spending a lot of time behind bars.

Dufour was shot in the Mount Royal neighbourhood Aug. 1, 2020. He was initially taken to hospital with serious injuries, but subsequently died.

Dominick Mark Cochrane and Angelica Violet Taypotat were arrested the next day and were initially charged with attempted murder but were charged with first-degree murder after Dufour died.

Both Cochrane and Taypotat were set to appear in court Monday morning for a preliminary hearing, but instead, Cochrane entered a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Cochrane was sentenced to 18 years in prison less his time on remand, which works out to a little over 15 years in prison going forward.

Taypotat pleaded guilty to assault and was given a conditional sentence.