'She lost everything': Chantal John's family, friends deliver crushing victim impact statements

Kirk Keeping will be staying behind bars for a very long time — a second-degree murder conviction ensures that — but just how long he'll stay incarcerated before being eligible for parole is what Justice Glen Noel must now decide.

Noel presided over the sentencing hearing for the St. Jacques-Coombs Cove man in Grand Falls-Windsor Supreme Court on Thursday.

It was long day of arguments from both defence and crown attorneys in a hot and humid courtroom, made more intense by emotional submissions through victim impact statements.

Keeping killed Chantal John with a knife in January 2019. The murder was the first for the tiny Miawpukek First Nation in Conne River, on the province's south coast. John, who was once in a relationship with Keeping, was 28 years old.

Keeping, now 40, was originally charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault earlier this year.

Victim impact statements read out in court brought many in the gallery of 15 or so to tears.

"Chantal John was truly a child of the community," wrote the Miawpukek First Nation leadership, as read out in court on Thursday.

The band detailed how the murder was felt by members across the country, about how that blanket of safety covering the small community had been lifted and about how it strained relations with the RCMP.

"The loss of a vibrant community member is a great loss to everyone."

Friends and family members combined for nine other victim impact statements, eight of which were read for the courts. The impacts of the loss are widespread. The following are excepts from some of the statements:

• "I'm so hurt, lost, broken. She's our baby girl and he took her."

• "Chantal will always be the light of our world."

• "I still can't believe she's not coming home.... He took her life like she was some kind of wild animal."

• "Our mental health is gone out in a boat with no oars."

• "I do have beautiful dreams about her — holding her and telling her that I love her.… We can't forget what she lost. She lost everything."

A life sentence for second-degree murder has a minimum parole ineligibility period of 10 to 25 years.

Crown prosecutor Karen O'Reilly is looking for 18-20 years. She said it should be on the higher end of the spectrum to reflect changes in society. She said people's understanding of intimate partner violence have changed a lot, as has our understanding of the treatment of Indigenous people.

"We're in a different world now. We know more," she said. "More needs to be done to protect indigenous women from violence."

Both O'Reilly and defence lawyer Mark Gruchy cited case law they feel Noel should consider when determining the parole eligibility.

Gruchy says it should be between 12 and 15 years.

"Mr. Keeping is an individual with no prior related criminal record, no history of violence, no apparent genesis for this type of behaviour," he told the court.

"For any form of murder, 15 years is a long parole eligibility. Jumping to 18-20 is a disproportionate response. It's way too high."

In his address to the court, Kirk Keeping — whose parents were in attendance — apologized for what he had done, and for the grief he has caused the people closest to John. He said there's not a moment that goes by that he doesn't think about it. He said he wants to try to be a better person.

Noel will deliver his decision on Sept. 12.

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