KITCHENER, Ont. - The widow of an elderly man killed while delivering Christmas cards died "a thousand deaths" on the day her husband was savagely murdered, and her family remains unable to recover from the "horrific" crime, she said in a victim impact statement Monday.
"It was Dec. 15, 2007, I died," Beverly Brown said during a sentencing hearing in Kitchener, Ont., for the man who admitted to killing her husband Hunter Brown, 74.
"My whole world as I knew it fell apart and even after two years my life has not come together," she told the packed and sombre courtroom.
Friends in the courtroom gasped and teared up as they heard how Brown was stabbed 45 times in the head and face during an unprovoked attack while he was carrying out his annual ritual of hand-delivering Christmas cards to neighbours.
Many of the wounds were so deep that they penetrated his brain, with one of the fatal wounds described as being 10 to 12 centimetres in depth.
Trevor LaPierre, 24, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, as well as to an assault on Corey Speck, another neighbourhood man, two days later. He sat quietly in the prisoner's box, just feet away from the Brown family, often lowering his head as the statements were read.
Brown's widow was the first of six relatives and neighbours to describe the anguish they have suffered since finding the beloved grandfather, described as a warm and gentle man, laying in a pool of blood, undelivered cards at his side.
"I am haunted by the images of my dad with his hand full of the Christmas cards he was cheerfully delivering ... (and) first encountering Trevor LaPierre," said his son Michael Brown.
"(I) imagine the terror as dad struggled while his face was being mutilated. How much ultimate suffering did he have to endure?"
Like the rest of the family, he also spoke about being robbed of the chance to say a proper goodbye because his father's face was so damaged by the attack it had to be mostly covered at the funeral home. He added the doctors who tended to Brown at the hospital refused to let the family see him, fearing "we would be traumatized for life."
All the family could speak to at the funeral was Brown's hands.
The victim's daughter also said she was angry with a system that left clearly troubled individuals like LaPierre "unsupervised," and urged the judge to hand down the harshest possible sentence.
"My family has been decimated: We are not OK; we're grasping to carry on," said Sandra Brown, who like most family members said her faith in God was shattered by the murder.
"I'm truly sorry, but I will never be able to forgive Mr. LaPierre."
LaPierre was arrested soon after the stabbing death as he and his father were en route to a psychiatric ward.
According to the agreed statement of facts read into evidence, he did it to please the devil and "to save himself."
"He intimated this act was done to please Satan and he killed Mr. Brown because he 'thought he was the right one,"' according to the statement of facts.
"He also indicated his 'boss made him do it' and made reference to evil and the devil."
LaPierre also said that "he needed to kill and stated 'it could have been anybody."'
A second-degree murder conviction means an automatic life sentence. Parole eligibility can be set anywhere from 10 to 25 years.
The defence and the Crown made a joint submission on Monday asking that LaPierre serve his sentence at a centre in Kingston, Ont., for inmates with mental health issues.
The defence is also asking the judge not to extend the period before which LaPierre can be eligible for parole, saying his guilty plea, mental state and expressions of remorse deserve some credit.
The sentencing hearing will continue Tuesday, when the Crown makes its submissions on parole eligibility.
