Family recounts deep loss as killer sentenced to life
Grieving family and friends of slain Calgary mom Dawns Echoes Baptiste had their say in court Monday as they presented victim impact statements at her killer’s sentencing.
But those there to express their loss over Baptiste’s brutal rape and murder didn’t get to hear from her unapologetic killer.
Defence lawyer Shamsher Kothari told court that Curtis Healy did not have anything to say before he was sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole for a minimum 25 years.
Outside court, Kothari said with an appeal pending it wasn’t the place and time for Healy to be talking.
Healy, 29, was convicted Friday of first-degree murder in the killing of Baptiste, a mother of four, on Feb. 11, 2015, in Calgary.
Healy brutally beat Baptiste, whom he’d just met, before dragging her through a hedge to a backyard and raping her. He then retrieved a coconut-sized rock to “finish her off,” striking his unconscious victim in the head.
In sentencing Healy to life, Justice Charlene Anderson said his conduct in killing Baptiste was hard to understand. “Your actions in the early morning hours of Feb. 11, 2015, are reprehensible and beyond comprehension.”
The judge said Baptiste’s killing was “senseless, vicious and brutal.” She noted that Healy, who sat stone-faced as seven victim impact statements were read out, showed no regret for his actions.
The judge noted many people had been harmed by Healy ’s crime.
“She was a cousin, an aunt, a sister and a daughter,” Anderson said.
“Your actions have robbed them forever of her love and support.”
In her victim impact statement, Baptiste’s good friend, Darlene Bear, noted the slaying took place not far from her home.
“An evil walked into our lives,” Bear said.
“The loss destroyed me for a year and a half,” she said. “I never felt so broken in my life until the day I found Dawns was murdered so close to my home.”
Alex Baptiste addressed his sister’s killer directly.
“I’ll never forgive you for this, you took away my nieces’ and my nephews’ mother,” he said.
Outside court, Alex Baptiste said he looked at Healy when he addressed him, but the killer did not make eye contact.
And the dead woman’s cousin, Verlyn Baptiste, said there was no reason Healy should be forgiven.
“He got what he deserved,” she said following the sentencing.
“He showed no mercy for her, so why should we show mercy for him?”