Pregnant victim’s murderer loses appeal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/09/2008 (6261 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man who participated in the cold-blooded killing of a pregnant young woman has lost his bid for a reduced sentence.

The man — who can’t be named because he was 17 at the time of the February 2007 attack — was sentenced last fall to six years in prison and four years of probation after pleading guilty to first-degree murder under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He hoped to have about a year shaved off his jail term based on time in custody before striking a plea bargain with the Crown that spared him an adult sentence. Provincial court Judge Marvin Garfinkel acknowledged the pre-trial detention, but said “the circumstances of the offence and the consequences of the offence” were too extreme.

The Manitoba Court of Appeal has now agreed, saying judges aren’t bound to give reductions to youths, especially in cases such as this where the maximum sentence is imposed.

Roxanne Fernando, 24, was the victim of a murder plot that began with her refusal to have an abortion and ended days later with her battered body buried in a snowbank.

The youth was offered $500 and a television to carry out the act. A meeting was set up on Feb. 15 — the day after Valentine’s Day — in which Fernando had expected to exchange gifts with her boyfriend. She was driven to the edge of the city and beaten to death.

Her killers went to McDonald’s, stopped at Safeway for cleaning supplies for the vehicle and text-messaged at least one of Fernando’s friends — using her cellphone — indicating all was well.

Fernando’s family launched a search with posters and on the Internet. Her body was found several days later.

Two adult co-accused, Nathanael Mark Plourde, 20, and Jose Manuel Toruno, 20, remain before the courts.

www.mikeoncrime.com