Iain Scott
Image Credit: Contributed
October 27, 2016 - 11:14 AM
KAMLOOPS - Iain Scott showed no reaction after learning he would have to spend at least 13 years in prison for murdering his ex-partner before he is eligible for parole.
Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen sentenced Scott in Kamloops court today, Oct. 27, to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 13 years for the second-degree murder of his ex-partner Angila Wilson.
As Crown prosecutor Adrienne Murphy put it, Scott and Wilson had a relationship built upon a “house of cards” filled with alcohol, drugs, violence and eventually murder.
Their decade long relationship came to an end after Wilson moved out of the couple’s home. Murphy says Scott couldn’t accept the fact that Wilson, the mother of his children, no longer wanted to be with him.
Scott showed up to her home April 20, 2014. Within minutes of showing up, Scott stabbed Wilson 11 times while their three children slept down the hall.
"There's certain aspects that we can only speculate about what occurred," Murphy told reporters outside the courtroom after the sentencing.
Minutes after her death, Scott got in his truck and drove to the nearby liquor store. He bought his favourite alcohol, Fireball whisky, and began drinking inside the store.
He drove back to Wilson’s home, picked up their children and took them to his home. An hours-long police standoff ensued around Scott’s home until the children eventually made it out safely.
Angila Wilson.
Image Credit: Contributed
This was far from the first violent incident that unfolded between the couple. Police became involved in their disputes several times between 2007 and 2014.
Days before her murder, Wilson had been granted a protection order against Scott by a Kamloops Provincial Court judge, but the order had not been served to him.
Her first attempt to get the protection order one week before her murder was foiled, after someone had appeared to put a substance inside the gas tank of her vehicle. Court heard a search of Scott’s iPad after the murder showed Google searches including finding out if putting sugar in a gas tank really disabled the vehicle.
Scott maintained after the murder he had no recollection of the events and wasn’t aware of what he did. Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen shut down that claim today pointing to Scott’s phone history the morning after the murder.
He had placed several calls to his sister and his lawyer. The context of those phone calls was not disclosed in court.
“In the aftermath of the killing he was sufficiently aware of what had happened,” Cullen said.
Scott pleaded guilty to second degree murder in June of this year, but Cullen says no one besides Scott and Wilson will ever know what truly happened in the victim’s home that night.
“Whatever the truth of the matter, the court is left without a complete picture of the true circumstances of the killing,” Cullen said.
Although defence lawyer Ian Donaldson asked for a 10-year parole ineligbility period and Crown asked for 14 to 15 years, Murphy said 13 years is a fit sentence.
"I think it's a reasonable parole eligibility period," Murphy said.
FAMILY WANTS CHANGES TO LEGAL SYSTEM
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Wilson's aunt and uncle, Dey Stewart and James Brown, spoke to reporters after Cullen handed down his sentencing decision today.
They say the parole eligibility period is appropriate, adding their biggest concern is Scott and Wilson's children having enough time to process the events before their father is released from prison.
Brown says the two years of not knowing what unfolded had a strain on Wilson's family. He could have been called to be a witness if the case had gone to trial.
"My wife knew some things, but we couldn't talk about it," Brown says.
For many of the family members, this was the first time they heard certain details of the murder.
"As horrible as it was to hear in court... it's also curiously settling," Stewart says.
The family does want to see some changes made to the legal system. Brown says he wants to see the Ministry of Children and Family Development create a task force similar to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. He says families would be better able to navigate the legal system with a task force specifically focused on domestic homicide.
There has been an ongoing custody battle over the couple's three children since their mother's murder. For the foreseeable future the children are residing with Wilson's brother, his wife and their two children.
Stewart says the kids are doing "remarkably well" for witnessing such a horrendous act. They're all in school, involved in sports and enjoying living with Wilson's family in Hope.
For more of our coverage of this case, go here.
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