Man who killed mother of his 2 kids sentenced to life in prison without parole for 18 years
CBC
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of violence.
A man who fatally stabbed his ex-partner and mother of his two children in February 2020 has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.
Abdiljibar Mahamoud pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Brittney Newman, forgoing a trial. He received his sentence during a virtual hearing in a Brampton court on Friday. He was 27 years old at the time of Newman's death.
Police said Newman died at her Mississauga home on Feb. 9, 2020. Peel police were called to her basement apartment just before 12:30 p.m..They found Newman suffering from what appeared to be stab wounds. She died at the scene.
The ex-couple's two children, both under the age of six, were in the apartment at the time of the stabbing but were not injured, police said.
According to police, Mahamoud was found inside Newman's apartment and was arrested.
Newman's family and friends said she had been separated from Mahamoud for two years at the time of her murder. They said Mahamoud was abusive and that Newman tried to cut ties numerous times but struggled to become financially independent.
Explaining his reason for the sentence, the judge said "any domestic violence is most serious and clear messages have to be sent."
Donovan Branch, Newman's father, said Friday's sentencing brings some amount of "finality."
He said he would "hesitate to call it closure because it's still pretty haunting."
"I carried the fact that my daughter's head was decapitated with me for two years, two years, so no four-week retrial is going to help bring me closure," Branch told CBC News following the sentencing.
Branch said "it's hard to grapple with" the sentence, having listened to the premeditation "laid out by the judge."
Branch now has custody of his grandsons, who were three- and five-year-old at the time of their mother's death.
Branch said the boys are still "exhibiting signs" of the trauma.
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