RCMP officer's family says justice done

By Len Kruzenga

The trial was a difficult one for slain RCMP officer Dennis Strongquill's family.

Day after day family members of the veteran aboriginal officer were forced to listen to painfully graphic testimony from forensic and police experts, who chronicled the physical injuries sustained by Strongquill when he was slain sitting in his police cruiser in December 2001 and the frantic moments just before he sustained the fatal gunshot wounds.

Testimony in the months-long trial also included diary entries made by Sand in which he called Strongquill a "coward" and talked of the slaying as part of a "war" he was winning.

But when a jury deciding on the fate of his accused killers-Sand and Lori Bell-delivered their guilty verdict last week, their sense of pain was alleviated somewhat.

"We're pretty happy the jury found them guilty," said Strongquill's oldest daughter

Robert Sand was found guilty of first-degree murder and immediately sentenced by Queen's Bench Justice John Menzies to a mandatory 25-year jail term with no eligibility for parole.

"This was nothing but a cowardly slaughter," Menzies told Sand.

And he admonished the duo for murdering "a pillar of Canadian society and a role model for the aboriginal community.

Bell was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, and will be sentenced on June 30.

The verdict came a day after Strongquill would have celebrated his 54th birthday.

The RCMP constable, a father of six and a member of the Waywayseecappo First Nation was killed after a routine traffic stop outside Russell went horribly wrong,

Sand, his brother Danny (later shot by RCMP snipers), and Bell were all travelling in a stolen pick-up truck when they were pulled over by Strongquill and his partner Const. Brian Auger.

Robert Sand immediately jumped out of the truck and began firing at the police cruiser, striking it four times. Strongquill and Auger retreated back to Russell with the half-ton in pursuit.

The trio had up to that point wracked up a string of robberies, car thefts and break and enters and had stolen firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Danny Sand, the driver of the stolen truck, then rammed the side of the police cruiser trapping Strongquill inside with a sidearm that had malfunctioned.

Armed with a shotgun, the court heard, that Robert Sand walked up to the side of the cruiser where Strongquill was trapped and fired four blasts into his chest killing him instantly.

The trio was later located hiding in a Wolsley Saskatchewan hotel and surrounded by police. Police snipers shot Danny Sand and Bell and Robert Sand then gave themselves up.