As he faces a life sentence in prison, Phoenix Maytwayashing said he “will always love” the woman he killed after she rebuffed his efforts to reconcile.

Maytwayashing, 23, was convicted after trial of second-degree murder in the March 2020 stabbing death of his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Monica Chippeway.

Chippeway, 35, died inside her Lake Manitoba home following a frenzied knife attack witnessed by her young daughter.

“I understand that my actions have hurt a lot of people and I don’t expect to be forgiven for what happened,” Maytwayashing told court at a sentencing hearing Friday.

“I understand more than people think I do. I am truly and deeply sorry. My own mother won’t forgive me, and that’s OK. I will always love Monica and the memories we shared.”

Maytwayashing admitted killing Chippeway, but defence lawyer Matt Gould argued at trial he should be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, claiming he was so intoxicated by alcohol, pills and cocaine he had no memory of the attack and lacked the necessary intent to kill for a finding of murder.

The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. Prosecutors urged King’s Bench Justice Herbert Rempel to raise Maytwayashing’s period of parole ineligibility to 15 years; the defence argued a 12-year period of parole ineligibility was sufficient.

Family members remembered Chippeway, a mother of three, as the “glue” who held everyone together.

“She was the reason I chose to be a better person,” sister Melissa Chippeway wrote in a victim impact statement provided to court. “She kept me and my sisters on my toes…. Every day we are hurt all over again by her not being here.”

Prosecutors alleged at trial Maytwayashing flew into a rage after Chippeway rejected his appeals to reconcile.

Court heard evidence Maytwayashing visited Chippeway’s house three times the day she was killed. Maytwayashing arrived the first time with a bottle of wine and Chippeway turned him away. He returned sometime later with a bag of groceries and was turned away again.

When Maytwayashing returned a third time he stabbed Chippeway 32 times in the head, neck and body.

Chippeway’s then seven-year-old daughter rushed to her mother’s aid as she was being stabbed to death, only to have Maytwayashing turn the knife on her. She was slashed on her ear, chest and arm.

“He was hurting her and I kept on trying to tell him to stop,” the girl told court.

A man who was staying in the same house as Maytwayashing at the time of the killing told court they and two other men had been drinking at home that afternoon, after a day running errands in nearby Ste. Rose du Lac.

“Phoenix said he was going to see Monica,” Jeffrey Williams (also Chippeway’s cousin) told court. “The first time he left, he brought a bottle of wine. He seemed normal.”

Maytwayashing returned about 15 minutes later, gathered up some groceries and left again, Williams said.

“The second time he came back he was… drenched in blood,” he said. “It was on his face, on his arms. It was running down his hands.”

Maytwayashing “kept on telling us he had ‘f—-ed up’ and told us all to get out of the house,” Williams said.

According to a pre-sentence report prepared for court, Maytwayashing had an upbringing marked by substance abuse, domestic violence and a lack of family supports.

Gould said Maytwayashing has no prior history for violence and has taken every opportunity to access rehabilitative programming while in custody, justifying a reduced period of parole ineligibility.

“He has a long future ahead of him… and has an understanding of what needs to be done (to rehabilitate himself),” he said.

Rempel will sentence Maytwayashing on May 10.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca