Tyler Gamblin. (Image: Submitted/New Brunswick RCMP)
Strong emotions in a Saint John courtroom at the sentencing hearing for 20-year-old Tyler Gamblin.
Gamblin pled guilty to a charge of manslaughter in January in the July 2020 death of 29-year-old Nathan Gallant.
Gamblin, who took part over the phone in recent hearings, was in the prison docket on Friday wearing a prison-issue orange jumpsuit and a mask.
On entering the prisoner’s box, he acknowledged family members in the front row of the gallery.
Nathan Gallant’s father, sister, grandmother and aunt were also in court and his mother, Diane Hachey, took part virtually.
Gallant was found near Route 825 on July 8th, 2020 with stab wounds and later died in hospital.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for Gamblin soon after and he was arrested by the RCMP near Woodstock on July 23rd following a tip from Crime Stoppers.
Three members of the Gallant family read victim impact statements starting with Nathan’s mother, Diane Hachey.
“I lost part of me. I feel sad and depressed. I lost something so sacred to me that I will never get back.” Hachey said.
Nathan Gallant’s sister, Kyla, spoke about her little brother and how he joined the military after high school.
She said she is “devastated by his death” adding she couldn’t eat or sleep and has “never felt so much pain, anger and confusion”.
Gallant said she can’t believe she will be celebrating Nathan’s 30th birthday without him next week.
Nathan’s aunt, Lisa Gallant, said her “family is broken” and her brother, Nathan’s father “blames himself for his son’s death”.
Lisa Gallant said her nephew was an “amazing young man who joined the army and wanted a family but, never got the chance”.
She described him as “caring and considerate”.
Gamblin’s lawyer Wes McIntosh told court his client is remorseful and noted “Nathan was his friend”.
He said on the night of the incident Gamblin “overreacted in the worst way possible”.
In previous hearings, McIntosh expressed frustrations with Gamblin’s pre-sentence report but, he’s now pleased with it calling it “fair and thorough”.
He said it “reflects his life, the good and bad”.
Gamblin was raised in a single parent household at different times by his mother and grandmother who were both present in court.
He had a hearing difficulty which wasn’t identified until he was 3-years-old.
McIntosh said Gamblin always felt behind and it impacted his education and also has mental health issues and attention deficit disorder.
He noted his client also struggles to read and write which he plans to work on in prison.
McIntosh described the incident as “a few seconds that went terribly wrong in a car”.
Gamblin addressed the court briefly saying he was “sorry for what he did”.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Darrell Stevenson thanked Nathan Gallant’s family members for reading their victim impact statements.
Tyler Gamblin’s sentence will be delivered on April 16th at 11 a.m.
