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A Canadian judge on Thursday found a serial killer guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of four indigenous women. But in the court gallery, Jeremy Contois' reaction was reserved. His younger sister, Rebecca, was one of the women killed in the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba two years ago.
“I feel a little sense of relief,” Mr Contois said, but will not get full closure until the killer, Jeremy Skibicki, is formally sentenced.
In his oral verdict, Manitoba Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal dismissed the argument by the defence at trial that the accused was not criminally responsible for the murders.
Lawyers for Skibicki, 37, said he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killings.
Prosecutors argued that Skibicki deliberately killed Ms Contois and three other women in 2022 in crimes that were calculated and racially motivated.
The murders and the subsequent weeks-long trial sent shockwaves through Canada’s indigenous community, which has long grappled with cases of violence against their women.
Wearing a grey T-shirt and pants, Skibicki did not react as Judge Joyal read aloud the summary of his judgment.
Skibicki's victims are Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26 and Ms Contois, who was 24. The fourth woman has yet to be identified, and has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, meaning Buffalo Woman, by indigenous elders.
Throughout the trial, a buffalo head sat on a red cloth on a table near the prosecutors in tribute to the still unidentified victim.
In his verdict, Judge Joyal said the accused failed to demonstrate he was not criminally responsible for the murders, dismissing the testimony of a British psychiatrist, Dr Sohom Das, who said Skibicki was motivated by delusions when he committed the murders.
The judge added that the "mercilessly graphic" facts of the case "are largely uncontested", given that the accused had admitted to the murders in police interviews and in court prior to the trial.
Skibicki had pleaded not guilty due to a mental disorder.
Lewis Musonye
