Manitoba premier says Jeremy Skibicki should stay behind bars for life
CTV
Convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki should never again see the light of day as a free person, and any future parole hearings should take into account the impact his killings have had on family members, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Thursday.
Convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki should never again see the light of day as a free person, and any future parole hearings should take into account the impact his killings have had on family members, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Thursday.
Skibicki was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years, for killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg. The trial heard Skibicki targeted his victims at homeless shelters, then strangled or drowned them before disposing of their remains in garbage bins.
The four concurrent life sentences, and 25 years without parole eligibility, are the maximum penalty under federal law. Ottawa used to have a law that allowed for consecutive sentences with longer periods of parole ineligibility, but the Supreme Court of Canada struck it down two years ago.
In response to reporter questions at an unrelated news conference, Kinew praised the handling of the trial by Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Manitoba Court of King's Bench, who acknowledged in his ruling the acute and tragic societal realities Indigenous women face every day.
Kinew said while the law allows people convicted of first-degree murder to apply for parole after 25 years, Skibicki should not be granted release.
"The crimes that were committed, the terrible actions which are now part of this person's vocabulary, means that they can never be free again," Kinew said.
"I can commit to you that family members, people such as myself, everyone who's been touched by this terrible sequence of crimes and the humanitarian cries for help from the families, will never forget. And we will be there to remind whoever is entertaining (parole) in the future."
