Hammer killing was murder, jury decides

Judge hands Kelowna man life sentence for 2nd-degree murder of his roommate

Daniel Garth Ruff is guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Warren Welters, a Kelowna jury decided Tuesday afternoon.

Ruff, 65, admitted to killing the 51-year-old Welters with a hammer, but said he acted in self-defence.

After the jury delivered its guilty verdict, Justice Alison Beames sentenced Ruff to the mandatory life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

“Mr. Ruff, you have been convicted by a jury of your peers of having committed second-degree murder of Warren Welters, who was at least at one time a friend of yours and a roommate of yours when you killed him on June 14, 2015, in what can only be described as a brutal manner by striking him in the head several times with a hammer,” said Beames.

Following the verdict, Welters’ daughters read victim impact statements aloud in court prior to sentencing.

“To say the past two years and four months have been difficult is an understatement of epic proportion,” said Welters’ eldest daughter, Ashley Sargent.

“As a child, I remember thinking that my dad was the strongest man in the world, like many little girls do. The thought of him being bashed in the head while in the most vulnerable state, while sleeping, has been very difficult for me to reconcile.”

Throughout the trial, Sargent said, the court heard many negative things about her father, and she wanted to highlight the good in him.

“He was funny, he was charismatic, he could be incredibly thoughtful and he had a way of connecting with people,” she said. “The true impact of this will no doubt manifest over the many years I have left in my own life. I feel angry and resentful and filled with an incredible sadness that just won’t go away.”

Welters’ youngest daughter, Alyssa Welwood, also recalled happy memories of her dad and emphasized the impact of his loss.

“He would do anything to help anyone; he had a beautiful heart and the absolute best sense of humour,” she said. “The evening of June 14, 2015, is one I will never forget — a memory I am burdened to carry with me for the rest of my life. I was robbed of a piece of myself that day, for when we had to lay my father to rest, I consequently laid a piece of my own heart to rest with him.”

Beames then gave Ruff the opportunity to address the court.

“I am so so sorry this happened,” he said. “It was a senseless tragedy that should never have happened. I’m sorry, girls.”

During the trial, Ruff told the jury Welters jumped him in their home at 941 Bernard Ave. on June 14, 2015, and started choking him.

While on the ground, being choked by Welters, Ruff said he reached over to a nearby cabinet and grabbed a hammer, with which he then hit Welters multiple times.

All but one of Welters’ injuries were on the back of his head, with the other injury located on the side of his head, the court heard.

Crown prosecutor Colin Forsyth argued the location of the injuries proved it was unlikely the two men were engaged in a physical altercation.

“I suggest what happened . . . was that Mr. Ruff came into that room while Mr. Welters was passed out asleep, face down on the bed . . . and struck him in the back of the head with a hammer,” he said.

Welters was found lying face down on his bed on a pool of blood, surrounded by hundreds of blood spatter stains all over the bed, the walls and the ceiling.

In interviews with police following the incident, Ruff claimed he had not been home all day and had just gotten home to find Welters dead.

In court, he conceded those were lies to deflect suspicion away from himself at the time.