Canadian serial killer Bruce McArthur was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for the murders of eight men and he will not be eligible for parole for 25 years when he is 91-years-old, according to CBC News.
McArthur stood silently as the sentence was read after he already plead guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder last week.
Each count of murder carried a mandatory life sentence without parole for 25 years so the only decision left up to Justice John McMahon was whether to sentence him concurrently or consecutively.
Justice McMahon noted the gruesomeness of the killer's crimes, but noted there was a "fine line between retribution and vengeance."
He also told the courtroom there was a minimal change the former landscaper who hid his victims' bodies in planters would ever be granted parole.
Most of his victims had ties to Toronto's Gay Village neighborhood including: Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman, Majeed Kayhan, Dean Lisowick, Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, Skandaraj Navaratnam, and Soroush Mahmudi.
The judge called McArthur's crimes "pure evil," and condemned how he exploited the vulnerabilities of his victims since two of the men were homeless and struggled with addiction, another was a refugee, several were married men who had not revealed their sexual identities to their families.
McMahon said that even though McArthur did take responsibility for his crimes by pleading guilty, "there has been no evidence of remorse" and he believed he "would have kept killing" if police did not apprehend him in January 2018.
Family and friends of his victims were able to deliver impact statements throughout the week to the court.
Crown lawyers released a statement which thanked investigators for their work and said they hoped the sentence "will assist our community in beginning a new chapter of healing."
"This is a crime of stark horror. The murder of eight of our citizens has impacted many: family, chosen family, the LGBT community, and the city in which we live and work," the statement said.
"His crimes have instilled fear and distrust," McMahon said during the sentencing about the damage inflicted on Toronto's LGBTQ community. "It will never be the same."
Dean Lisowick's uncle addressed the court to describe how his nephew struggled with mental health issues and addiction and was discharged from a homeless shelter the day McArthur killed him.
"With proper treatment, Dean's life could have been turned around but that opportunity has been taken away from him."
Umme Farzook, who first reported her husband Soroush Mahmudi, missing called him her "soul mate" and said she suffers from PTSD since learning of his murder so she has been unable to work.
"My pain and suffering will always be there as long as I live," she wrote in her impact statement. "And I will constantly be reminded of how my beloved and innocent husband was brutally murdered."
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Rebecca Blackwell
