Teen who pleaded guilty to misleading police gave 'false hope' after Tyson MacDonald died: Crown

A sentencing hearing is underway in a packed Georgetown courtroom for a teenager who pleaded guilty to misleading police after Tyson MacDonald disappeared in eastern P.E.I. in mid-December.

The 17-year-old's body was later found in a wooded area, and two youths were charged in his death.

Opening the sentencing hearing before Judge Nancy Orr, Crown prosecutor Jeff MacDonald said the teen being sentenced "frustrated the efforts of all those searching for Tyson" after he vanished, and gave the community "false hope" that he was alive and well somewhere.

"I have cried every day since Dec. 14, 2023, and it all started with lies," Tyson's mother Amanda MacDonald wrote in a victim impact statement, which was read out by a Victim Services staff member.

Orr is expected to deliver her ruling on sentencing at 2 p.m. AT.

A publication ban under the Youth Criminal Justice Act prevents CBC News from naming either of the two accused people, as well as any details that could lead to their being identifiable to the public.

As the victim, Tyson MacDonald's name was also covered by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, but the family gave permission for CBC News to identify him.

As has happened for every court appearance the accused have made in the case so far, friends and relatives of MacDonald marched outside the courthouse Friday morning holding signs calling for justice for the Montague Regional High School Grade 12 student.

People carrying signs calling for justice for Tyson MacDonald walk outside the courthouse in Georgetown on Friday morning. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

They and others later crowded into the courthouse, but an official had to stop letting people in, apologizing and saying he "can't stretch the walls" of the room.

The teen who pleaded guilty to misleading police was led into the courthouse in shackles, wearing a plaid shirt and jeans.

The victim impact statements were read out in court to let the accused and the community hear "the pain that's been caused" and mark "a path forward for accountability," the Crown prosecutor said.

"He made the decision to be selfish and he lied," Tyson's sister Brittany wrote of the teen being sentenced. "He took away my family's opportunity to say goodbye."

School principal writes of impact

Another statement was read out on behalf of Montague Regional High School principal Robyn MacDonald.

"Our school has suffered loss many times before," she wrote in the statement. "We've lost students, staff members, and community members. One of our staff members has lost 10 students during their career at MRHS."

Another view of the Georgetown courthouse on Friday morning. (Gabrielle Drumond/Radio-Canada)

But Tyson MacDonald's death was different, she wrote.

The principal described "a barrage of daily trauma" as the search for the student continued — and eventually, when his body was found.

Robyn MacDonald said staff went from class to class that day, letting students know the grim news.

"We were just holding on," she wrote. "Sometimes it feels like we're still holding on."

The tragedy continues to disrupt life at the school months later, she said.

"Attendance falters the days of court appearances, and in the days that follow… Groups of students who were once close friends have separated."

There have been fights both on and off school property, the principal wrote.

"Our students are suffering. Their parents are suffering…

"They have watched their children grow up the best of friends, only to see that unravel."

Wasn't present at time of death

The agreed statement of facts in the case, read out in court when the teen being sentenced pleaded guilty, reveals more about what happened before and after MacDonald disappeared on the evening of Dec. 14, 2023, after telling his parents he was going to a hockey game in Charlottetown with friends.

It says the other acccused teen told police that the teen being sentenced Friday:

• was not present when MacDonald was killed,

• did not help move his body, and

• did not know MacDonald was dead when he backed up the first teen's story of MacDonald being picked up by a young woman in a car the night he disappeared.

The statement also said the teen "felt pressured" by the other youth to give false statements to police on three occasions. Although "there were no explicit threats of violence," the statement said, the teen told police he knew the other boy "had access to various firearms."

The other teen, who faces charges of first-degree murder and interfering with human remains, has not yet entered a plea. His case is due back in court in June.

The teen being sentenced Friday was initially charged with those two offences as well, but those charges were stayed when he pleaded guilty in February to charges related to misleading police and giving false statements, in the form of saying a young woman with a flower tattoo on her left arm picked MacDonald up in a dark-coloured Honda Civic the evening he vanished.

Fruitless search

That story led police and community members on a fruitless search for someone who didn't exist, until cellphone records pointed investigators in the right direction, the agreed statement of facts said.

An RCMP helicopter flies over the Greek River Road area in eastern P.E.I. on Dec. 19 during the search for signs of Tyson MacDonald. (Nicola MacLeod/CBC)

Tyson MacDonald's sister Sierra, who wrote in her victim impact statement that the teen being sentenced "did not pull the trigger, but he did lie to police."

That act contributed to the agony her family was experiencing, she said, and "wasted hundreds of people's time… The longer the hunt went on, the more it seemed like there was no truth to the story."

That was echoed by Tyson's father and stepmother, Kent MacDonald and Shannon Morriscey.

"The blind chase we were sent on was such a cruel ordeal," they wrote. "Friends, family, and community members spent days searching with us...

"Because of this lie, so much time and manpower was wasted. Because of this lie, Tyson lay in a field for days… He could've been found sooner, and maybe his family could've seen him and said goodbye."

Custodial sentence recommended

The Crown and defence agreed that the teen should be given a sentence of four months for public mischief through misleading police, which he has already served away from other inmates at the Provincial Correctional Centre near Charlottetown, and two months in custody and one month of community supervision on the obstruction of justice charge.

"Nothing short of a custodial sentence will bring home to [him] the seriousness and severity of his actions," said prosecutor Jeff MacDonald, pointing out that tens of thousands of dollars were spent on the ground and air search for Tyson while the teen being sentenced continued to insist on his initial story.

Speaking to CBC News in December, Tyson MacDonald's mother Amanda MacDonald said: 'There are families getting ready for Christmas, and we're getting ready to go to the funeral home to make arrangements. This is not the way it should be.' (Steve Bruce/CBC)

"What is impossible to understand… he repeated the lies three times. It's unfathomable," the Crown prosecutor said.

"The right thing to do was so easy. Rather than helping and assisting the community by providing desperately needed information, he did the exact opposite."

MacDonald called the teen's claim that he had no idea that Tyson was dead "hollow," adding: "[He] had to have known something was seriously wrong. To suggest otherwise is to completely ignore common sense."

He did acknowledge that the teen is at a low risk to reoffend, comes from a very supportive family, and "doesn't have an easy road ahead of him."

Teen apologizes to court

Calling the teen "deeply remorseful," defence lawyer Derek Bondt said he agrees six months is an appropriate sentence.

"There's no question he recognizes, and takes responsibility for the pain and suffering his lies did cause," said Bondt.

After the pre-sentencing report, the teen was asked if he wanted to speak to the courtroom.

"I would just like to take this opportunity to say I am truly sorry for the harm I have caused," he said. "If I could go back, I would do things differently. But I cannot…

"I did not intend to cause harm to anyone. I feel terrible for not telling the truth."