Man gets life sentence for murder of estranged wife

Stabbing with steak knife occurred on day couple was to sign divorce papers

A man who admitted to the murder of his estranged wife on the day they were to sign their divorce papers has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years.

Brian Beglau, 60, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Melanie Hunter, 55.

She was found by police dead in her home suffering multiple knife wounds, including a lethal cut to her neck.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Beglau broke in to Hunter’s home and attacked her with a serrated steak knife while she was in bed having a video call conversation with a man with whom she’d recently started a relationship.

Beglau and Hunter had been separated for three years.

But when Hunter began her new relationship about a month prior to her death, Beglau began a campaign of harassment that spurred Hunter to report him to the RCMP.

The man she was on the call with contacted police when Beglau entered the room, surprising Hunter. The screen went dark, but the man heard Hunter screaming, followed by silence.

Responding officers found Hunter’s body in her bedroom and Beglau in the ensuite bathroom with self-inflicted wounds.

Beglau said that he remembers nothing of the incident.

He hadn’t shown up at an appointment to sign divorce papers with Hunter earlier in the day of the killing.

He did recall taking six sleeping pills that day.

Originally charged with firstdegree murder, Beglau pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, avoiding a trial.

Beglau’s admission of guilt was one of the mitigating factors that Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Kevin Feehan said he weighed in coming to his decision on parole eligibility.

Also mitigating was Beglau’s age — his defence lawyer Mona Duckett had argued that Beglau will be an “old man” by the time he’s first eligible to apply for parole — and his expression of remorse.

He told the court he was sorry and wished he could “change things.”

However, a domestic killing is a statutorily aggravating factor. Feehan found that Beglau’s crime was further aggravated by the “anticipation” of violence, the act of breaking and entering, as well as the fact that Beglau had been warned against having communications with Hunter earlier that month.

A second-degree murder conviction comes with an automatic life sentence.

In addition to the 13 years of parole ineligibility, Beglau is subject to a 10-year weapons ban, a lifetime restricted weapons prohibition.

As well, he will also be required to submit a sample of his DNA to a national database.

Feehan also approved a no-contact order requested by Crown prosecutor Tara Hayes that prohibits Beglau from communicating with the man Hunter was dating, as well as with his and Hunter’s two adult children.

Hunter is remembered by her friends and family as a caring mother and kind person who was enjoying her newly independent life and pursuing hobbies like yoga and scrapbooking.