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Manitoba man who killed partner, 2 children sentenced to life

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WINNIPEG – A man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the deaths of his common-law partner and their two children is to serve a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 16 years.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Chris Martin agreed Thursday to a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers at the sentencing hearing for Trevis McLeod in Winnipeg.

“It’s horrible, just horrible,” the judge told court, calling it “one of the worst cases I’ve dealt with in my career.”

“At the end of the day, nothing takes away the pain, nothing takes away the shock.”

McLeod, 52, admitted in September to the slayings after a forensic assessment found he had not suffered from a mental disorder.

Shantelle Murphy, 32, Isabella Murphy, 6, and three-year-old Mason Murphy were found dead in the family’s duplex in Portage la Prairie, west of Winnipeg, on April 10, 2022.

Fire crews were initially called to the home after neighbours reported the unit was ablaze. Firefighters would later find the three victims dead in two upstairs bedrooms.

Court heard the woman and two children “suffered substantial blunt force trauma to the head and body.”

McLeod had a history with drug addiction that led to drug-induced hallucinations and delusions. He had previously received medical treatment for paranoia and drug addiction.

At the time of the slayings, McLeod was experiencing delusions that Shantelle Murphy and other “bad actors” were sexually abusing Isabella and Mason, court heard.

A psychiatric assessment in the summer determined McLeod had not experienced a mental disorder that would find him not criminally responsible for the killings. McLeod didn’t contest the report.

An agreed statement of facts detailed what unfolded the morning of the deaths.

McLeod told a psychiatrist shortly after his arrest that he believed a scheme existed to sexually traffic Isabella and Mason, Crown prosecutor Dayna Queau-Guzzi previously told court.

McLeod said he believed he needed to kill the children to protect them from further exploitation, Queau-Guzzi said.

McLeod admitted to having seven or eight beers at the family home. He found a metal pipe and used it to bludgeon Murphy and the two children.

Before leaving the house, McLeod woke his adult son from a previous relationship, who was sleeping in a bedroom on the main floor, and lit some of Isabella’s school drawings on fire in the living room.

McLeod’s older son left to go a relative’s home nearby. Court heard McLeod then visited several other homes in Portage la Prairie.

He first went to his brother’s house and banged on a window. The brother knew McLeod struggled with a methamphetamine addiction and assumed he was “methed right out,” Queau-Guzzi read from the statement of facts.

The brother did not allow McLeod in the home and reported hearing McLeod say, “They’re dead.”

McLeod then went to his sister’s house, where he pointed at her and told her, “This is all your fault,” before punching her in the face. Police were called shorty after the interaction.

Court heard McLeod eventually made his way to a stranger’s home, telling the owner that he needed help after he had been pushed into a ditch. The owner called her firefighter husband, who was working on the blaze at McLeod’s home.

McLeod was arrested soon after.

Police found blood on McLeod’s shirt, sweater, jacket and pants. He was also carrying a knife.

Forensic testing determined blood on his sweater belonged to Murphy and Isabella. None of the victims’ blood was found on the knife.

A finding of second-degree murder comes with a life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.

Queau-Guzzi had said the Crown agreed with the 16-year parole ineligibility period so the family wouldn’t have to endure a trial.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 24, 2024.

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Trudeau decried for immigration cuts which scapegoat migrants

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Halifax, Nova Scotia (October 24, 2024) – Today, the Trudeau government announced significant cuts to permanent resident targets for Canada over the next three years. For the first time, targets for temporary residents are also being included in their plan. This follows a series of announcements by the Trudeau government to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada, including low-waged migrant workers.

In 2021, Prime Minister Trudeau made a mandate letter commitment to a regularization program for undocumented people and permanent resident status for migrant workers and students. Earlier this year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery Tomoya Obokata called Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” and urged the Government of Canada to provide a clear pathway to permanent residency upon arrival for migrant workers. Instead, these recent changes will mean reduced access to permanent residence for migrants.

In an October 24, 2024 press release, the Government of Canada claims that their new plan “alleviates pressures on housing, infrastructure and social services.”

“These changes unfairly blame and punish migrants. Migrants build communities and bolster the economy. They fund services like healthcare through their taxes, and yet in places like Nova Scotia they are excluded from healthcare coverage. We need real solutions, not more smoke and mirrors,” said Stacey Gomez, Executive Director of the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia, which is a member of the Migrant Rights Network.

Over 100 organizations have penned an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning the government that slashing permanent immigration will force more migrants into temporary and precarious situations, further entrenching their exploitation and worsening conditions for all workers. The letter, signed by nearly every major civil society group in Canada, shows that there is a unified consensus in Canada to expand, not reduce, permanent residency programs, abolish closed work permits and ensure regularization. Read the letter here.

The Migrant Rights Network and its allies are calling on the federal government to immediately reverse this decision and chart a new course that grants equal rights for all migrants. This includes ensuring permanent resident status for everyone, expanding protections for workers, and upholding human rights for all.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Police suggest speed a factor in fiery EV crash that killed four in downtown Toronto

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TORONTO – Speed was considered a factor in a fiery overnight crash in downtown Toronto that killed four people and injured one woman, officials said Thursday, underlining the challenges firefighters face when batting electric-vehicle battery fires.

The Tesla car was travelling at a “high rate of speed” when it lost control, slammed into a guard rail and then caught fire along Lake Shore Boulevard east of Cherry Street shortly after midnight, Toronto police Deputy Insp. Phillip Sinclair said Thursday.

“There is some evidence to suggest that speed was a factor,” he said.

Sinclair described the crash as “heartbreaking.” All four people who were killed — three men and one woman — were in their 20s and 30s, he said.

The surviving woman was pulled from the car by a motorist who stopped to help, he said. The woman, in her 20s, was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“Thanks very much to that bystander. We have been speaking to them, and obviously they are also deeply affected by this incident — a very horrific scene for that bystander to step in,” Sinclair told a press conference Thursday morning.

Toronto’s deputy fire chief said the crash underlined the challenge firefighters can face when trying to put out electric-vehicle battery fires.

“The intensity of the fire is directly linked to the battery cells in the Tesla,” said Jim Jessop, speaking alongside Sinclair.

“But I want to be very clear: we have all attended collisions where we’ve had horrible car fires as well that are gasoline powered.”

One of the major risks in electric-vehicle fires, he said, is when the battery gets into an uncontrollable self-heating chain reaction, or what’s called thermal runaway. The battery can sometimes reignite up to weeks later, he said.

Firefighters at the scene put the car’s battery cell in a dumpster and filled it with sand, then moved it from the scene for safe disposal, he said.

“We don’t want to speculate on the intensity of the fire until the investigation is complete, but certainly it did cause extra care and concern in transporting the vehicle and the battery cell that had been ejected (from the vehicle),” Jessop said.

Talk of battery fire risks comes as the city’s transit agency considers a possible ban on e-bikes and e-scooters from its vehicles. A staff report going before the Toronto Transit Commission’s board says the risks are particularly associated with lithium-ion batteries in uncertified or misused devices.

Research findings from EV FireSafe, a group backed by the Australian government, suggest electric-vehicle battery fires are uncommon and happen less often than gas-powered vehicle fires.

Jessop said Toronto Fire is being “very proactive” in preparing for a future where lithium-ion batteries, the type found in everything from cellphones to cars, are even more common.

He said the service has a working group to help inform its response to public messaging about battery fires and tactics for safe disposal by firefighters.

“It’s something that you know we’re going to have to deal with and continue to deal with as this technology expands … and it’s something that, you know, we’re going to continue to work on,” he said.

Lake Shore Boulevard, the major arterial road along the city’s waterfront, was closed in both directions between the Don Valley parkway and Cherry Street for several hours ahead of the morning rush hour. One lane reopened in each direction later in the morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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