Wolfe gets nine years for stabbing Angose Standingwater in Saskatoon

Article content

A man from the Thunderchild First Nation who was fatally stabbed in a van at an intersection in Saskatoon’s Stonebridge neighbourhood was a beloved father, friend, powwow dancer and drum singer who was deeply connected to his family, community and culture.

Nicknamed “Goose,” 30-year-old Angose Standingwater wanted the best for his seven kids and numerous siblings, even as he was struggling with his own traumatic past, his mother Lorrinda Antoine told a packed Saskatoon provincial courtroom.

Article content

“I’d see him sit, looking up to the ceiling, always wanting a better life: ‘How could we do this, shall I go back to school, or keep truck driving?’ ” she said.

Monday’s sentencing hearing for the man who killed Standingwater began with a smudging ceremony before 30 victim impact statements were presented. 

Ashton Lee Wolfe, 20, was in the passenger seat of Standingwater’s van and Standingwater was in the back seat when he stabbed Standingwater — a man he barely knew — in the chest on May 20, 2023.

Wolfe pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Defence lawyers Aleida Oberholzer and Shea Neudorf said his intoxication that night impaired his judgment and decision making.

Court heard Wolfe was part of a group that had been partying, drinking and travelling with Standingwater, who took his grandmother’s white 2017 Dodge Caravan from the Whitefish First Nation earlier that day and drove to Saskatoon.

Injured and bleeding, Standingwater got out of the van while it was stopped at the intersection of Clarence Avenue South and Brand Road. He staggered to the nearby Boston Pizza for help, according to the facts presented in court.

Article content

Article content

Staff and paramedics performed CPR, but he died from blood loss just after 11 p.m.

Wolfe was initially arrested two days later, but was released without charges. The facts state investigators wanted to gather more evidence.

On Aug. 1, 2023, Wolfe was initially charged with first-degree murder. His girlfriend was charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder. Her case is still before the court.

“We keep wondering why did they have to do that to Angose when he trusted those people he was with. So many unanswered questions,” Standingwater’s grandmother Laurraine wrote.

During his warned police statement, Wolfe’s description of his motives for the killing were confusing and unclear. At first he said he was jealous of Standingwater’s interactions with his girlfriend. He later agreed with police that he wanted to steal Standingwater’s van. Then he said both were true.

The facts state that half an hour after the stabbing, Wolfe and his girlfriend left the van in an apartment parking lot on Confederation Drive.

Court heard Wolfe also told police that he stole the van and stabbed Standingwater because another man who was with their group forced him to on behalf of their gang. He recanted the story after police told him he would be charged with first-degree murder.

Article content

Crown prosecutor Oryn Holm and Oberholzer jointly proposed a nine-year manslaughter sentence, which Judge Vanessa Monar Enweani accepted.

The defence said Wolfe, a member of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, was kicked out of his community when he was 14 and has been unhoused in Saskatoon ever since.

He was raised in foster care due to substance abuse and poverty in his biological family. He said he feared returning home because his mother was violent and there was rarely food.

Oberholzer said Wolfe is addicted to meth and alcohol, has an acquired brain injury from a prior assault, and has been struggling with depression because “he cannot stop thinking about the offence.”

Wolfe apologized to Standingwater’s family in court, saying he doesn’t expect their forgiveness.

“As you can see you took our light away from us. Which makes me come to say: I know why now he was given his Cree name: Walks with lightning. He was the light that came when needed to everyone who knew him,” Antoine said.

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content