Woman sentenced for helping teen flee shooting outside Copper Mug in Saskatoon

A woman who helped a teen flee the scene of a 2024 shooting in Saskatoon has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Katelin McGillivary learned her sentence Wednesday in Saskatoon provincial court, after previously pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder. She was originally charged with first-degree murder, but that charge was stayed.

Jordanna Kucher, 20, was shot outside the Copper Mug pub on Eighth Street E. on Nov. 24, 2024.

Last year, a then 17-year-old boy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Kucher's death. He received the maximum youth sentence of seven years.

McGillivary, 37, admitted she was with the teen and helped him leave in a taxi. According to information shared at the teen's sentencing, Kucher had walked to the pub to buy cigarettes when the teen tried to rob her, then shot her in the back.

Members of Kucher's family shared in court how her death affected them. At the time of her death, she had a daughter who was just nine months old.

"It is absolutely maddening to me that our baby … will never know her beautiful, loving mom," the girl's father wrote in a victim impact statement.

"These are supposed to be the happiest days of my life, but now my heart has a giant hole in it."

McGillivary sat in court with her head bowed as she listened to the family read their statements.

When given a chance to speak, McGillivary said she was sorry for the choices she made and that she regretted her actions that night.

Her lawyer Patrick McDougall said McGillivary, who is from Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, was raised in Pelican Narrows and experienced trauma as a child, and later as an adult. 

McGillivary began using crystal meth and drinking heavily in 2019, and spiralled after her common-law spouse was killed in 2021 at their home in Prince Albert.

The charge of being an accessory after the fact to murder carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The defence and Crown prosecutor Monique Lambert-Wignes jointly recommended McGillivary serve five years for her involvement in getting the taxi that then picked up the youth and left the scene.

Judge Bruce Bauer accepted the recommendation. Minus credit for her time in remand, McGillivary has roughly three years and two months left to serve.