(Winnipeg) The first day of Jeremy Skibicki’s murder trial revealed that the accused sought his victims in homeless shelters and targeted vulnerable Indigenous women. While being questioned by police over a gruesome murder, he confessed to three other victims.
“I killed four people,” he is heard telling police unprompted in an interrogation video played Wednesday during the trial at the Court of King’s Bench.
The 37-year-old man has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and a fourth woman whose identity is not known. Influential First Nations people have nicknamed her “Buffalo Woman” in 2022.
Defense lawyers said Mr. Skibicki admitted to the killings but should be found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.
“This case concerns the hateful and cruel acts of one man, perpetrated against four vulnerable indigenous women,” argued prosecutor Renee Lagimodiere on Wednesday, on the first day of Jeremy Skibicki’s trial.
She said the defendant set up a scheme and carefully considered what he would do to his victims.
“He selected these women from shelters in Winnipeg, invited them to his home, where he assaulted them, often sexually, and killed them,” she argued. He carried out vile sexual acts with their remains. He then disposed of them as if they were trash. »
The body of one of the victims was found in a dumpster and in a landfill in 2022. The remains of two other victims are believed to be in another dump. The body of the fourth woman has not been located.
Me Lagimodiere detailed the killings in court.
She said Mr. Skibicki kidnapped “Buffalo Woman,” believed to be an Indigenous woman in her 20s, strangled and drowned her.
He grabbed Mme Harris, 39, by the neck, and she collapsed into a bathtub full of water, M saide Lagimodiere.
He also revealed that Mr Skibicki had a sexual relationship with Mme Myran and that the latter tried to put an end to it. The accused then strangled the 26-year-old woman.
He attacked Mme Contois when the 24-year-old told him she didn’t want to have sex. He then strangled her, suffocated her with a pillow and dismembered her in a bathtub, Ms.e Lagimodiere.
A very complex case
University of Manitoba law professor Brandon Trask said the plea presents many challenges for defense lawyers in an interview with The Canadian Press earlier this week.
Once a mental illness has been identified, the question is whether the diagnosis rendered Mr. Skibicki incapable of understanding that his actions were prohibited.
“This is not the kind of case where there is just one victim, at just one time. This is a situation involving four victims over a likely longer period of time, Trask said. It will be very difficult for the defense, very complex and very technical. »
The Crown and defense have told the court they plan to have experts testify about the accused’s mental health.
Mr. Trask added that a finding of not responsible does not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt as with a criminal charge. Rather, the judge must determine which plea is most likely.
The trial was initially scheduled to be held before a jury. Jurors were selected at the end of April and were expected to be in attendance this week. The situation changed Monday, when the defense indicated that their client did not contest the murders and that he wanted to be found not criminally responsible.
The Crown and defense agreed that the complexity of the case made a trial before a judge more appropriate.