WINNIPEG –
A Manitoba man who pleaded guilty to murdering his common-law partner and two children more than two years ago was sentenced Thursday.
Trevis McLeod received a life sentence for three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Shantelle Murphy, 32; Isabella Murphy, 6; and three-year-old Mason Murphy in Portage la Prairie on April 10, 2022.
Both Crown prosecutors and McLeod’s lawyers agreed McLeod should not be eligible for parole for 16 years.
Fire crews were called to the duplex the couple shared for a fire. The bodies of Shantelle and the children were found in two bedrooms upstairs.
According to an agreed statement of facts presented in court, the woman and two children suffered “substantial blunt force trauma to the head and body.” McLeod then set fire to the home.
The court heard McLeod had a history with drug addiction that led to drug-induced hallucinations and delusions, and he was experiencing delusions at the time of the murders that Shantelle and “other bad actors” were planning to sexually traffic the children.
A psychiatric assessment reported McLeod was not experiencing a medical disorder that would find him not criminally responsible for the murders.
-With files from The Canadian Press