Canada: Manitoba judge convicts serial killer Jeremy Skibicki of first-degree murder

During an hours-long interview following his arrest in May 2022, Skibicki confessed to police by saying “I killed four people.” 

Skibicki described the graphic ways he killed and defiled the women in a video, portions of which formed a key piece of evidence in the trial.

“The statement was really the starting piece after Miss Contois’ body was found, and it really helped to prove the case the crown had to prove," said Crown prosecutor Renee Lagimodiere.

During the trial, the defence had relied on the evidence of a U.K.-based psychiatrist, who testified Skibicki had been suffering from schizophrenia and had been hearing voices at the time of the killings.

But Chief Justice Glenn Joyal rejected this evidence and it was also determined that when he ‘mercilessly’ killed four Indigenous women  he was not suffering from a mental disorder.

A second psychiatrist, called by the Crown, testified instead that Skibicki's actions were racially motivated, and he did not have a major mental disorder, to which Joyal agreed.

“The accused did not have a mental disorder such as schizophrenia,” Joyal said while reading his decision Thursday.

When a summary of decision was delivered Thursday by Joyal in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench, Skibicki, who sat in the prisoner’s box, remained quiet and showed no emotion while people in the gallery cheered.

“Today is a significant day in the history of Manitoba…I thank Chief Justice Glenn Joyal for showing respect to the victims, their families and the context of MMIWG2S+ in which the verdict was delivered," Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said in a statement.

Joyal added that a full and lengthy written decision will be released next week followed by a sentencing hearing at a later date.

First-degree murder convictions come with an automatic life sentence with no parole for 25 years.

Skibicki has now been convicted of first-degree murder in the killings of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe or Buffalo Woman.

Skibicki preyed on his victims at homeless shelters, argued the Crown, invited them back to his apartment where he abused them, often sexually, and killed them, defiled their bodies and disposed of them in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)