Man who killed wife with axe in front of children to serve minimum 12 years
The case is covered by a publication ban that prohibits reporting details that could ID the children including the parents' names
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A man who pleaded guilty to slaying his wife with an axe – a killing witnessed by the man’s two children – was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.
The decision was handed down by Superior Court Justice Joseph Perfetto, who described the March 12, 2022, killing of the woman at a north London home as “callous” and “senseless.”
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“There was no mercy shown to the victim,” Perfetto said while delivering his sentence.
“There is nothing that this court can do to undo the past, and in particular the offence before this court. I wish that were different.”
The sentence came a week after the accused, who is 55 years old, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case that is covered by a publication ban that prohibits reporting any details that could identify the children, including the identity of their parents.
On Tuesday, the court had the opportunity to hear statements written by the victim’s children and a sister.
In them, the victim was described as a “loving mom” and a “kind, caring and empathetic person.”
“Words can’t describe the amazing person my mom was,” the daughter said. She “was loved by all who knew her.”
The killing of their mother has left deep emotional and psychological scars in both children and a void that will never be filled, the son said.
“At first, I believed that it was somehow my fault and that I could have done more to defend my mother,” the son said in his statement. “For about a year after, there did not go a day or hour where I did not think about killing myself.”
In the victim’s sister’s statement, she said the family went to great lengths to hide from their elderly parents the real cause of their daughter’s death in an attempt to spare them the pain that knowing the truth would cause them.
“She was the most beloved and proud daughter and sister in the family,” assistant Crown attorney Kristina Mildred read in court.
“Although we fabricated the lie that (he) caused (an) accident by driving recklessly, losing their beloved daughter . . . has left them devastated.”
According to an agreed statement of facts between the Crown and the defence, the convicted man had grown increasingly suspicious of his wife for months, believing she had cheated on him and even questioned the paternity of their son.
Court also heard London police were called by the victim’s son on March 12, 2022, shortly before 6:30 p.m., after the children “observed their father striking their mother with an axe repeatedly” in their home’s basement.
Officers found a man with blood on him and arrested him for murder.
Two officers found a woman lying lifeless on the floor in the basement with severe injuries to her neck. A blood-covered hatchet was located near her body.
The officers attempted life-saving measures, but the woman, whose screams could be heard in the 911 call, was later pronounced dead at the home.
When delivering his sentence, Perfetto said the main mitigating factor was the accused’s remorse, particularly the fact the man, who didn’t have a criminal record, pleaded guilty even before a trial date had been set, sparing his children the need to testify in court.
“I’m deeply sorry for her family and for my two children,” the man, wearing a wrinkled white T-shirt, said Tuesday.
“I’m not going to say anything to make the court think I’m going to defend myself.”
A conviction for second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence. It was up to Perfetto, however, to determine the man’s parole eligibility term – how much time he must serve before he can apply for parole – which could have been set from 10 years to 25 years.
“In this case, the particularly brutal nature of the offence; the use of a weapon (against) a defenseless person in the context of an intimate partner relationship, and the profound and traumatic impact that (the man’s) conduct has had on the children, justifies a departure from the 10-year minimum parole ineligibility period set on the Criminal Code,” he said.
With files from Free Press reporter Jane Sims
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