WARNING: This story comprises distressing particulars.
Prosecutors say a confessed serial killer preyed on weak Indigenous ladies at Winnipeg homeless shelters earlier than killing 4 in 2022 and throwing their stays within the rubbish.
They’re alleging Jeremy Skibicki “devised a calculated scheme the place he rigorously thought out what he would do to the victims after which did these issues,” Crown lawyer Renee Lagimodiere informed courtroom on Wednesday morning, the primary day of Skibicki’s weeks-long homicide trial at Manitoba Court docket of King’s Bench.
“This case is a couple of man’s hate-filled and merciless acts perpetrated towards 4 weak Indigenous ladies,” she stated.
Skibicki is accused of 4 counts of first-degree homicide within the deaths of three First Nations ladies: Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, as properly the demise of an as-yet unidentified ladies who has been given the title Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Girl, by group leaders. Police have stated they consider she was in her 20s and was Indigenous.
Contois was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, often known as Crane River. Harris and Myran have been each members of Lengthy Plain First Nation.
Defence legal professionals say Skibicki admits to the killings, however ought to be discovered not criminally accountable due to a psychological dysfunction.
Lagimodiere stated the Crown is arguing Skibicki discovered the ladies at homeless shelters and invited them again to his residence, the place he assaulted and choked, smothered or drowned them in a tub earlier than he “engaged in vile sexual acts with their our bodies” and “disposed of the ladies as if they have been rubbish.”
“The Crown expects that the proof will present that Jeremy Skibicki, appearing out of hatred, rigorously calculated and thought of methods to kill the victims, after which did simply what he got down to do. His actions have been intentional, purposeful and racially motivated,” she stated, because the grandmother of one of many victims sat within the courtroom together with her face in her fingers.
DNA proof
Court docket heard by way of an agreed assertion of info that the DNA of all 4 ladies was discovered on varied gadgets in and out of doors Skibicki’s residence, together with on a bloodstained pillow, a cigarette butt, a fight knife and a bra.
Court docket additionally heard audio of a 911 name made by a person who, whereas trying by way of dumpsters for copper and clothes to salvage, discovered what at that time have been the lately disposed partial stays of Rebecca Contois inside a bag in a rubbish bin close to Skibicki’s residence.
He eliminated the bag as a result of he was nervous a rubbish truck would quickly come to empty the bin, courtroom heard.
The partial stays of Contois have been present in a rubbish bin in Might 2022, police have beforehand stated. Extra of her stays have been discovered after a search on the city-run Brady Street landfill in June 2022.
Police consider the stays of Harris and Myran are on the Prairie Inexperienced landfill, a privately owned facility simply north of Winnipeg. They have stated the placement of Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe’s stays is unknown.
Skibicki was initially arrested in Might 2022 in reference to Contois’s demise. Later that yr, police charged him in reference to the deaths of the opposite three ladies as properly.
Earlier this yr, the federal and provincial governments every dedicated $20 million towards looking out Prairie Inexperienced for Harris’s and Myran’s stays.
The search won’t begin till after Skibicki’s trial, which is anticipated to proceed till June 6.
‘I killed 4 folks’: police interview video
The massive marble courtroom in Winnipeg’s downtown courthouse was packed Wednesday with a few of the victims’ members of the family and their supporters, a few of whom obtained up and left because the prosecutor laid out particulars of what proof is anticipated to be known as throughout trial and precisely what they’re arguing Skibicki did to the ladies.
Upcoming proof will embody letters Lagimodiere stated Skibicki wrote and despatched to a different inmate in jail, the contents of which might be related in assessing his psychological capability, she stated.
Court docket additionally heard the start of a shortened model of Skibicki’s videotaped police interview, following his arrest in Contois’s demise, the place he instantly admitted to killing 4 folks whereas being questioned about Contois.
Police Det. Greg Allan, one of many officers within the video with Skibicki, was briefly questioned by prosecutors in courtroom earlier than the video started enjoying.
The accused is heard asking to talk to an Orthodox priest to “confess [his] sins” earlier than providing the knowledge that he’d killed Contois and three different folks.
“At this level, I wish to specific that you’ve got completed an excellent job,” Skibicki is heard telling police within the video. “You guys are clearly not silly. I actually simply wished to see how far, , I might take issues as a result of the felony justice system is a joke,” he stated within the video.
“The world that we’re dwelling in is sick. I used to be pushed to do stuff like this as a result of I used to be so spent emotionally. I killed 4 folks.”
Contois’s mom and household left the courtroom as that video performed, whereas Myran’s grandmother sat crying, holding her head in her fingers and at instances closing her eyes as she listened.
The hours-long video is anticipated to proceed being performed Wednesday afternoon.
Court docket of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal is presiding over the judge-only trial.
Help is offered for anybody affected by these experiences and the problem of lacking and murdered Indigenous folks. Instant emotional help and disaster help can be found 24 hours a day, seven days per week by way of a nationwide hotline at 1-844-413-6649.
You can too entry, by way of the federal government of Canada, well being help providers reminiscent of psychological well being counselling, community-based help and cultural providers, and a few journey prices to see elders and conventional healers. Members of the family looking for details about a lacking or murdered cherished one can entry Household Info Liaison Items.