Starla Sippola says she felt sick to her stomach as she stared at the man accused of shooting and killing her brother in Saskatoon last summer.
On Thursday, Dallin Lane Singharath appeared in provincial court, charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of 27-year-old Tyler Applegate.
“When he looked at me, I could see his chest was heaving, so I knew he was nervous,” Sippola said about seeing Singharath — a complete stranger to her.
“But I don’t think I can completely comprehend everything that just happened.”
Applegate was shot on July 22, 2017 after he confronted someone who was urinating on his fence in the 2300 block of 33rd Street West, police and family say.
Singharath is allegedly the one who pulled the trigger.
He is charged alongside three others, but is the only person facing a murder charge. Madison Leigh McKeaveney, Dustin Grainger and Dylan Chabot Tyacke are charged with manslaughter and accessory after the fact to recklessly discharging a firearm.
Earlier this month, Applegate’s sister and common-law partner told The Saskatoon StarPhoenix they were dissatisfied that only manslaughter charges had been laid.
Sippola said she’ll need time to process that someone is now in custody, accused of being the reason her brother is gone and his five children no longer have a father.
“At the end of the day it doesn’t bring my brother back. I do want (someone) to have to pay for it, though.”