Prison time justified for ‘gory,’ hateful threats to family, supporters of serial killer’s victim, Crown argues

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This article was published 24/02/2025 (196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the opening day of a trial for a serial killer who targeted vulnerable Indigenous women, several family members and supporters of the victims were themselves the targets of an unprovoked hate-filled verbal assault just steps away from the courthouse, a judge heard Monday.

Nicholas Delaney has pleaded guilty to uttering threats after confronting an Indigenous elder and several other people, including family members of Morgan Harris, one of four women murdered by now-convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki, outside the RBC Convention Centre, May 8, 2024.

Delaney, who was a stranger to the group, pleaded guilty to a second count of uttering threats for an incident three days later at a Unity Walk event.

“This (first) incident involves a lot of context… that is really critical to understanding the position the Crown is taking,” said Crown attorney Omar Siddiqui, recommending provincial court Judge Julie Frederickson sentence Delaney to 32 months custody.

Prior to the convention centre confrontation, the victims were in a courtroom hearing grim and disturbing details of how Skibicki targeted and killed their loved ones in a case that attracted international attention.

“The people who were at the receiving end of the actions of the accused had just heard this,” Siddiqui said.

Court heard Delaney, 39, lives with schizophrenia, had not been taking his medication at the time of the incident and had been using meth.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court, several family members and supporters of Skibicki’s victims were sitting at two tables outside the convention centre, preparing to return to court after the lunch break when Delaney sat down at one of the tables and accused a male elder of “asking for money.” The confrontation escalated with Delaney acting in a “threatening manner” toward the elder before others in the group separated him from Delaney.

Supporter Melanie Ross stepped in front of Delaney, becoming his next target, as he threatened to slit her throat, bash her skull in and cut off her hands and feet and turn them into boots.

“The idea of making furniture or boots out of people links to something in our history — it’s what the Nazis did,” Siddiqui said.

Delaney challenged everyone to a fight and yelled “white power” as he left the area.

Ross said Delaney’s “gory and unfathomable” threats have caused her “immense suffering.”

“The spiritual and emotional pain that I endured and continue to endure has left a lasting impact on my life as I continue to struggle with the trauma that was inflicted on me by the accused,” she wrote in a victim impact statement provided to court.

Delaney was charged with a second count of uttering threats after he was spotted at a Unity Walk event armed with a knife and screaming racial slurs against Black and Indigenous peoples and calling for their removal “to make the city safe.”

Charges of uttering threats can result in sentences from probation to two years less a day in jail. Siddiqui argued a sentence at the higher end of the range for each charge was justified, citing a section of the Criminal Code that says a sentence can be increased if a court is satisfied the threat was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on race or ethnicity and other factors.

According to a pre-sentence report prepared for court, Delaney told a probation officer he “had a lot going on in his life” and “was unsure why he acted the way he did.” Delaney downplayed his meth use, claimed it wasn’t a problem, and that he intended to resume using the drug when released from custody.

“I’m left with the conclusion this is someone who just doesn’t care.”–Crown attorney Omar Siddiqui

“I asked myself: are these the words of someone who is genuinely remorseful, who understands the impact of what he did, of the trauma he has caused… or are these the words of a person who just doesn’t care?” Siddiqui said.

“I’m left with the conclusion this is someone who just doesn’t care,” he said.

Delaney was raised by caring and loving parents and never showed any racist tendencies, said defence lawyer Mike Cook, noting Delaney’s closest friend is Indigenous.

Delaney was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teen, has been unable to work for much of his adult life and is under the care of the Public Trustee, said Cook, who recommended Frederickson sentence Delaney to time already served, plus three years supervised probation.

Cook said while he could not argue Delaney should be found not criminally responsible for his actions, they cannot be entirely separated from his mental illness, which can sometimes result in auditory and visual hallucinations.

“At times he is a loving, kind, funny man… other times he is anything but,” Cook said. “If he was on his medications we never would have had this scenario.”

Siddiqui, who has been assigned to the province’s mental health court for three years, said he saw no evidence Delaney was suffering a “break from reality” at the time of the incidents.

Frederickson will sentence Delaney on Feb. 28.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca