Victim impact statements read in court

Triple murderer Derek Saretzky heard from those hurt most by the deaths of his victims as victim impact statements were given in court on Thursday.

Saretzky has been convicted in the 2015 murder of 69-yearold Coleman resident Hanne Meketech, Blairmore resident Terry Blanchette and Terry’s daughter, two-year-old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette.

Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou read a statement from Cheyenne Dunbar, Hailey’s mother, into the record.

Dunbar spoke about the immense loss she felt with the death of her daughter.

“My life, as I knew it has ended,” she wrote.

“I miss my baby so much. I miss her kisses and her quiet snuggles.”

“Being a mother was an incredible joy and blessing that was stolen from me by a vicious act of inhuman cruelty.”

Terry’s mother, Faith Durban, wrote “beautiful human beings” were taken from their families.

“The simple joys of life have vanished,” she said, adding their family relationships had changed following the murders.

A statement from Amanda Blanchette, Terry’s sister, included the pride for her brother stepping up to be a father to Hailey, and how hard it has been to move past the pain of their deaths.

“The horror that she endured will haunt me for the rest of my life,” she said.”

She took issue with Saretzky’s claim that God told him to commit the murders, saying there was nothing Godly about his actions.

“He left two people dead in their homes for their loved ones to find,” she said. “And he stole an innocent baby screaming from her crib in the middle of the night.”

Hailey’s grandmother, TerryLynn Dunbar, spoke about how she and her family have been haunted by the murders.

“I drive past the place where they found her tiny body, and I can hear her screaming in my mind, begging for her mom and her dad,” she said.

“The horrors she must have endured haunts my every waking moment. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her.”

She went on to say that Hailey had not yet mastered talking.

“Now I will never hear her say the words, ‘I love you,’” she said.

Carrie Morency, Meketech’s friend, said it was important that Meketech be remembered, and that she had many friends and loved ones.

She said Meketech had a deep love of animals.

Morency said the death of her friend created a “devastating angry, and uncertain time” for her.

“There’s been a loss that touched us all,” she said. “A loss of innocence. We don’t know what love is anymore.”

Then she addressed Saretzky.

“You have destroyed everything we knew and felt safe with,” she said. “You are an animal. An indescribable beast.”