‘We’re hoping to get justice for my mother’

Welamukotuk (Oromocto) First Nation members wear “Justice for Sheri” shirts, red clothing to court to call attention to issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

The largest courtroom in Fredericton’s courthouse was filled to capacity Monday for the latest proceeding for a Burton man accused of killing a Welamukotuk community leader last month.

Jared Josiah Smith, 38, of Burton, faces a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Sheri Lynn Sabattis, 54, and he was back in Fredericton provincial court Monday.

Sabattis was found dead in a Welamukotuk (Oromocto) First Nation home April 27, and members of the RCMP’s major crime unit arrested Smith soon thereafter. 

Kyla-Dawn Sabattis, left, and Tiffany Sabattis - homicide victim Sheri Sabattis’ daughter and niece, respectively - were among the Welamukotuk members who attended court proceedings Monday for murder suspect Jared Josiah Smith. (Photo: Don MacPherson/The Fredericton Independent)

The gallery in Courtroom No. 5, where plea court is usually held at the Justice Building, was full Monday, filled mostly with members of the Welamukotuk First Nation and people who knew the victim.

Many wore red clothing, signifying how Sabattis is the latest victim to be among a long history of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIWG) and girls in Canada.