12-year-old pleads guilty to attempted murder

By Lethbridge Herald on December 11, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

A guilty plea has been entered for a 12-year-old boy charged with the attempted murder of his seven-year-old brother, and he will remain in custody awaiting sentencing. 

The accused, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has been in custody since his arrest in August. 

The matter appeared in front of Justice R. D. Anderson on Wednesday afternoon, and during the reading of the agreed statement of facts, it was determined that the 12-year-old was home alone with his brother while their father went to the store on Aug. 27, 2025, and he became enraged with his brother and had an urge to cause his brother harm. 

When the seven-year-old became aware of his brother’s anger, he ran to the father’s bedroom and hid under a blanket on top of the bed. Meanwhile the 12-year-old went to the kitchen to grab a knife and followed his brother into the bedroom. 

Once in the bedroom, the 12-year-old proceeded to stab his brother, who remained under the blanket, approximately nine times while the younger boy cried out in pain. 

The 12-year-old then stepped outside of the house to wait for his father. When the father arrived, the boy told him that the seven-year-old was dead inside the house. EMS attended the residence and transported the boy to the Chinook Regional Hospital, where he was immediately taken to a trauma room. 

The attending physician advised that he suspected three major injuries: an aortic injury, brain bleed and blood in the chest cavity, each of which were life threatening and required the seven-year-old to be airlifted to Edmonton Children’s Hospital.

Doctors advised the seven-year-old had nine stab wounds covering his face, hand, arm and back, a head puncture, a severed tendon in his hand, two fractures and several scratch marks.

The 12-year-old later advised that he had an urge he could not control related to voices he hears from time to time. Police determined that he had been researching murder on YouTube prior to the attack. 

The Crown advised Justice Anderson of the Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision as a sentence available in the Youth Criminal Justice Act and provided him with an order to be completed for the accused to be able to be assessed to ensure he is a good candidate for the program. 

To provide enough time for the assessment to take place, sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 11, 2026.