Members of Nathan Gallant's family leave court on April 16, 2021, following a sentencing hearing for Tyler Gamblin. (Staff photo)
Tyler Gamblin has been handed an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence in the death of Nathan Gallant last summer.
Gallant was found on July 8th, 2020, along a highway in Fairfield with stab wounds and later died in hospital.
Gamblin and Gallant were friends and in a vehicle together on July 8th when Gamblin stabbed Gallant six times on his left side.
On January 4th, 2021, Gamblin pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in Gallant’s death.
In the Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday, Mr. Justice Darrell Stephenson described the incident as an “abrupt, brutal and largely unprovoked attack”.
Stephenson noted Tyler Gamblin did not have an “easy life” suffering from a variety of disorders linked to alcohol, drugs and learning.
His mother and grandmother both said Gamblin couldn’t read or write and had never held a job.
The judge addressed the Gallant family who were sitting in court and participating virtually saying “”I sympathize with your loss. Nothing we can do here today will change how you feel”.
As the proceeding ended, Mr. Justice Stephenson looked at Tyler Gamblin in the prison docket and said “good luck”.
Tyler Gamblin will get credit for the time he has spent in prison.
After a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest, Gamblin was taken into custody in the Woodstock area in July 2020.
Gamblin’s sentence also factors in earlier guilty pleas to an assault on two Saint John Police officers and an attempted break-in at Roy’s Army Surplus in the fall of 2019.
During a previous court appearance, Gamblin said he was on drugs at the time and didn’t remember the incident with the police.
