Sask. court sentences third person in death of Megan Gallagher

A third person has been sentenced for dumping Megan Gallagher's body in the South Saskatchewan River in 2020.

Ernest Whitehead was sentenced to two years and seven days --739 days -- in jail at Saskatoon Provincial Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to offering an indignity to human remains following the murder of Gallagher in September 2020. After credit for time on remand, Whitehead will serve 713 days.

"People treat each other with respect because they have empathy," Justice Sanjeev Anand said before issuing the sentence.

"One of the reasons you're going to jail today is because you didn't show that empathy for the family of Miss Gallagher."

The sentence is significant because it's the exact amount of time between Gallagher's disappearance and when police found her remains near St. Louis last September.

"There's a message in there," Megan's father Bryan Gallagher said outside the courtroom. "That was very fitting, I think, in that respect."

Before the sentence was read in the overcrowded courtroom, with the large crowd on hand also filling most of a second courtroom, facts surrounding the sentence were read aloud in addition to 11 emotional witness impact statements.

The hearing began with a reiteration of Ernest Whitehead’s guilty plea followed by the reading of an agreed statement of facts.

According to the statement, Gallagher was brought to a garage of a home on the 700 block of Weldon Avenue in Saskatoon in September 2020. She was then tied to a chair, covered in plastic wrap and killed. Gallagher’s body remained in the garage for two days before Whitehead and John Sanderson, one of nine accused in her death, wrapped her body in a tarp and put it in the back of a truck.

The pair then drove Gallagher's remains to a bridge near One Arrow First Nation, but when an oncoming vehicle approached, Gallagher and Sanderson drove to the St. Louis Bridge and dumped Gallagher's remains in the river.

"There is an emptiness and a heartache inside me, and it will never go away," Mary MacColl, Gallagher's aunt, said to Whitehead during her statement to the court.

• Get the CTV News app for Saskatoon area breaking news alerts and top stories 

Each of the 11 speakers reading victim impact statements spoke about a caring and loving mother who would do anything for anyone. They all spoke about the pain of not knowing what had happened to Gallagher for over two years, and many of them told Whitehead to change his path and become a better person.

"A huge part of me was missing, and nothing I did could find the answers," Lindsey Bishop, Gallgher's sister, said. "For two years, you had the answers."

Wendy Sekulich, an aunt of Gallagher's, taught Whitehead during his time in high school in Saskatoon. She spoke of the personal connection between Whitehead and the family.

"When I heard it was you, I felt like throwing up," Sekulich said. "I believed in you...you had no right to throw her away."

"He was a good kid," Sekulich said afterwards outside of court. "I hope and pray that he chooses to move forward."

Four people have been charged with first-degree murder in Gallagher's death. Two others face charges of aggravated assault and unlawful confinement.