A man who admitted to killing four women in Winnipeg but said he should not be found criminally responsible because of mental illness has been found guilty of first-degree murder.
Defense attorneys had argued that Jeremy Skibicki suffered from schizophrenia at the time of the 2022 killings and should be found not criminally responsible and held in a hospital.
But Crown prosecutors found he had the mental capacity and conscience to commit and cover up the murders.
People in the packed courtroom cheered and applauded as the verdict was delivered Thursday. Skibicki showed little emotion.
Jorden Myran, the sister of one of Skibicki’s victims, Marcedes Myran, said she fought back tears as the judge handed down the decision.
“I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” she said in court. “Justice has been served today.”
A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
King’s Bench Justice Glenn Joyal said he fully agreed with the psychiatrist who testified for the Crown at trial. The judge said he found Skibicki did not suffer from a mental disorder that would have impacted his ability to know the killings were morally wrong.
He argued that the “shocking and disturbing” case is emblematic of the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
During the weeks-long trial, evidence emerged that Skibicki targeted Indigenous women in homeless shelters, strangling or drowning them and dumping their remains in garbage cans.
Disturbing details
The court heard disturbing details about the killings of the women: Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified woman who an Indigenous community named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
Mme Contois was from the O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, and Harris and Myran were from the Long Plain First Nation. All three were living in Winnipeg when they were killed.
The only evidence police have pointing to Buffalo Woman’s identity is DNA found on the lapel of a woman’s jacket.
The Dr Sohom Das, who testified for the defense, claimed that Skibicki felt compelled to kill the women because he was on a mission from God and that he had heard auditory hallucinations that compelled him to kill.
The Dr Das added that Skibicki knew at the time that the killings were legally wrong, but he lacked the capacity to know that they were morally wrong.
The court heard Skibicki had a history of mental illness, including depression, borderline personality disorder and suicidal thoughts. But he had never been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The Dr Gary Chaimowitz, who testified for the Crown, testified that Skibicki likely suffered from antisocial disorders and substance abuse, but that he did not have a major mental health disorder at the time of the killings.
He also said he believed Skibicki was driven to kill because of his sexual interest in the dead. The court heard he performed sexual acts on their bodies before disposing of their remains.
The murders came to light in May 2022 when a man looking for scrap metal found M’s partial remains.me Contois in a dumpster in the Skibicki neighborhood. More of the woman’s remains were discovered in a municipal dump the following month.
During a police interview, Skibicki admitted to killing Rebecca Contois and the three other women. He admitted the killings were racially motivated and cited white supremacist beliefs.
Buffalo Woman was killed in March of that year, while Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran were killed in May.
The Crown said it did not believe there were any other victims.
In 2022, police said they believed M’s remainsmy Harris and Myran had been taken to another dump outside the city, but that an excavation at that site would be too complex and dangerous.
Protests have been held across the country demanding an excavation of the Prairie Green landfill. The federal and Manitoba governments recently committed a total of $40 million for an excavation that is expected to begin in the fall.