‘Indescribably brutal’ slaying earns killer life sentence

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This article was published 23/11/2023 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Justin Monro never had a run-in with the law before May 19, 2021 — the day he beat his 37-year-old roommate Derek Sutton to death with a piece of lumber.

That Monro killed Sutton in an “indescribably brutal” attack uncomplicated by intoxication or mental illness defied belief, King’s Bench Justice Vic Toews said Thursday.

“Given the sobriety of the accused, there is simply no explanation why he carried on in this fashion against an individual he called a friend,” Toews said.

When he addressed the court, Monro, 29, provided little insight.

“I think of him every day and I do feel remorse,” he said. “But sometimes things just happen… I lost it.”

Monro was convicted of second-degree murder in June after Toews rejected his claim he had acted in self-defence. On Thursday, Toews sentenced Monro to life in prison with no chance of parole for 11 years, one year longer than the minimum period of parole ineligibility that’s allowed by law.

Court was told that since his arrest shortly after the killing, Monro has been involved in half a dozen violent incidents while in custody, most often as the aggressor.

“I’d be very concerned about releasing you… and those concerns have to be reflected in an increase in the period of parole ineligibility,” Toews said.

Court heard evidence at trial earlier this year that Monro and his girlfriend were at Sutton’s Beverley Street home, where Monro had been living for a time, when the two men got into an argument that quickly became physical. It ended with Monro striking Sutton in the face with a piece of dimensional lumber at least seven times.

Security video captured Monro walking down a back lane with his girlfriend and discarding the two-by-four behind a shed, where it was later recovered by police.

In a subsequent interview with police, Monro claimed Sutton returned home to find his belongings trashed by an unidentified intruder and blamed Monro for not stopping him.

Sutton attacked him and, when the fight spilled outdoors, Sutton armed himself with a two-by-four and started swinging it, Monro said.

Monro said he disarmed Sutton, and hit him several times in the head with the piece of wood. Monro told police he had used drugs earlier in the day, but was not high at the time of the attack.

Toews ruled that blood-trail evidence showed Monro had attacked Sutton with the two-by-four inside the house and that the attack continued as Monro, who was uninjured, chased Sutton out the front door.

Toews rejected Monro’s claim he was provoked, pointing to his comments to police stating he was “totally… in control” during the attack.

A pathologist report revealed Sutton suffered “brutally shocking” injuries akin to those suffered in a high-speed motor vehicle accident or a fall from a tall building, Crown attorney Ari Millo said.

“This wasn’t a fight, it wasn’t self-defence — it was a relentless pursuit,” Millo said.

Family members described Sutton, a father of two, as a kind man who had struggled with addictions but was working hard to make a better life for himself.

“Derek had so much to live for and so much room to grow,” said his sister Roselyn Willan, who vowed to be at every one of Monro’s parole board hearings “to remind people of the monster you are.”

Defence lawyer Andrew McKelvey-Gunson said Monro’s life spiraled out of control during the pandemic after he lost his job and fell into drug use.

“Addictions and drug use played a daily role in the goings-on at that house.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca