M. McLachlan

Wesley Guzylak pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the stabbing death of his romantic partner, Cotie Weekley, after she ended their relationship.

The murder occurred after Guzylak broke into Weekley's home and waited for her, then stabbed her multiple times in front of her seven-year-old daughter.

The Crown and defence jointly submitted a sentence of life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for 14 years and 9 months, which the court accepted.

The court considered aggravating factors including planning, breach of trust, the horrific nature of the attack, the offender's violent history, and the profound trauma inflicted on the victim's daughter.

Mitigating factors included the guilty plea, which spared the child from testifying, and the offender's difficult childhood and efforts towards rehabilitation.

The Crown brought an application at a preliminary inquiry for an order permitting audio/video recording of testimony from certain witnesses in a first-degree murder case.

The Crown argued that the evidence of witnesses directly involved in the alleged offence or closely associated with the accused was vulnerable and that videotaping would preserve a complete record for potential use under Criminal Code section 715(1) if witnesses became unavailable or hostile at trial.

The defence argued the court lacked jurisdiction to order videotaping.

The court granted the application in part, permitting videotaping of witnesses directly implicated in the offence but denying it for family members and associates not implicated in the crime.