3 people sentenced to several years each in 'horrifying' killing of Hamilton man Tommy Hoang
CBC
WARNING: This story contains distressing details and descriptions of violence.
The four people involved in the 2021 murder of a Hamilton man have all been sentenced to jail.
On Thursday, Superior Court Justice Paul Sweeny sentenced Daniel Holland, Madeleine Peternel and Robyn Cove to seven years, five-and-a-half years, and five years and three months, respectively, for their roles in the confinement, beating and death of Simon "Tommy" Hoang.
Holland, Peternel and Cove previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Police escorted them from the courtroom as the judge sentenced them one by one for the "stark and horrifying" attack.
On May 1, the other attacker, Jason Long, received a life sentence with a parole ineligibility for 16 years in Hoang's death. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
The trio sentenced Thursday are all in their late 30s and early 40s. Peternel shrugged and shook her head after Sweeny sentenced her. Holland did not visibly react, nor did Cove.
Peternel had been released on bail prior to the sentencing. The other two had been jailed.
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Sweeny told the court the offenders knew each other. On the evening of Feb. 10, 2021, he said, Long planned to rob Hoang. Peternel, who had a relationship with the victim, lured the 30-year-old to her apartment near Main Street East and Sherman Ave South in Hamilton's St. Clair neighbourhood, knowing he would be robbed.
Working together, Long, Peternel, Holland and Cove confined Hoang, Sweeny said. Long beat Hoang for over 20 minutes and Holland admitted to hitting him with a pipe, which Sweeny said contributed to his death.
A neighbour reported hearing someone telling another person to stop what they were doing, or that they would "kill him." Another voice responded that they were going to do just that.
A neighbour called police and when police arrived at the building, they found Hoang with multiple injuries including stab wounds to his neck that were about nine- and 14-centimetres deep, Sweeny said. Hoang passed out in an ambulance en route to hospital and never woke up. He died when doctors took him off life support on Feb. 27, 2021.
In the apartment where the group attacked Hoang, police found numerous bloodstained weapons including brass knuckles and a potato peeler, the court heard.
When Long was seen exiting the building, he left a trail of bloody footprints in the snow, and dropped a blood-soaked pipe, Sweeny said. He was carrying Hoang's coat and moved Hoang's car away.
Long later posted a photo on social media wearing a piece of Hoang's jewelry and holding a large amount of cash.
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.