A sentencing date for a man found guilty of attempted murder will be scheduled in June.
Cory Smockum, 38, was supposed to be sentenced in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench on March 23 but the case was adjourned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smockum was found guilty on Feb. 8 after a five-day trial. The jury had reached a unanimous verdict on the attempted-murder charge but couldn’t reach a verdict on two other charges including aggravated assault and choking to overcome resistance. Justice G.M. Currie declared a mistrial on those two charges.
The charges stem from an incident on Oct. 14, 2018, near Hanley, after Saskatoon Police responded to a call that a man was threatening a woman.
During the trial, the court heard that Smockum sexually and physically assaulted the victim. He also threatened to kill others and had “serious intentions of killing everyone he could that night,” the victim told the court.
The assault occurred in a garage after the two attended a sled rally together in Hanley. After the assault, Smockum took the victim on a quad through a field, telling her she was going to end up like her friend Ashley Morin who was last seen in North Battleford in July 2018. RCMP believe Morin, 31, is a victim of homicide but her body has never been found.
While going through the field, however, Smockum rolled the quad and was injured. The victim used this opportunity to escape, running and hiding in a grain elevator. Police found her there in the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018.
The court also heard that Smockum has a 2016 conviction after being arrested in 2015 by North Battleford RCMP. He was charged with sexual assault, assault and choking to overcome resistance. The choking charge was dropped and the assault and sexual assault charges were changed to assault causing bodily harm and sexual assault causing bodily harm, respectively. Smockum was found guilty in 2016 of assault causing bodily harm. He was found not guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm.
Smockum is scheduled to appear in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench on June 5 to set a sentencing date on his attempted murder conviction.
