A Seven-Year Sentence in Newfoundland, and a Wife Who Says It Isn't Justice Enough
A Port au Port West man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for shooting a snowmobiler in the head almost two years ago on Newfoundland's west coast.
Justice Trina Simms delivered the sentence to Harold Wayne Hynes, 68, by Zoom from a Corner Brook courtroom, for the shooting of Chad Hickey on Feb. 21, 2025.
Chad Hickey's wife, Alex Hickey, said no sentence is justice enough for what her family has gone through in the last 20 months, but that she is happy Justice Simms chose the maximum sentence the Crown presented.
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The sentence arrived without a trial. Hynes initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, then changed his plea to guilty of aggravated assault and careless use of a firearm, and the attempted murder charge was discharged. A guilty plea with the heaviest charge peeled off is how a great many cases end, which means the family's version of accountability was negotiated rather than argued out in front of a jury.
Alex Hickey is holding two ideas at once, and the record keeps both: she says she's happy with the sentence Harold Wayne Hynes received, and that the family still lives with the impact of the shooting, while also saying no sentence is justice enough and that Justice Simms chose the maximum the Crown presented. Read as a contradiction it makes no sense; read as measuring a sentence against an injury, it makes perfect sense.