Sheldon Hibbs convicted of manslaughter
Police evidence includes video of Hibbs confessing to beating man to death, saying, ‘That’s sad’
After the court heard details of how he killed Michael King three years ago, Sheldon Hibbs turned halfway around in the prisoner’s dock to speak to those sitting in the public gallery behind him Wednesday.
“I’m sorry,” he said to people believed to be King’s loved ones, before turning back to face the judge.
Hibbs, 28, had been scheduled for a jury trial this month on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with King’s death, but changed his plea to guilty on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
King, 68, was discovered on a trail in a wooded area between Waterford Bridge Road and Waterford Valley High School by a member of the public the evening of May 30, 2021.
According to an agreed statement of facts prosecutor Ashley Targett read aloud Wednesday, King was last seen alive by a taxi driver who dropped him off in that area shortly after 1 p.m. on May 29. Royal Newfoundland Constabulary investigators obtained CCTV video footage that captured King arriving in the area and Hibbs visiting a nearby liquor store three times within several hours, buying two bottles of Smirnoff peach vodka.
He was also seen entering the wooded pathway with an unknown person.
Police learned there had only been two bottles of Smirnoff peach vodka sold in the province that day. A broken bottle of the same vodka was found near King’s body.
Other items police seized from the scene include a blood-covered rock, cigarette butts, sunglasses and broken glass.
In the following days, police also located a pair of socks on the pathway, sneakers in the river near Bowring Park, and a jacket tied around the cross beam under a bridge nearby. The sneakers and jacket matched those worn by Hibbs in the CCTV footage.
On June 7, investigators were provided with a video of Hibbs standing under the bridge, looking for something.
Forensic tests revealed both King’s and Hibbs’ DNA on the jacket, sunglasses and a cigarette butt. The DNA of two males was found on the vodka bottle, but the profiles weren’t sufficient for comparison.
An autopsy revealed King had been killed by multiple blunt force injuries. He had broken ribs, collapsed lungs, a skull fracture, a brain hemorrage, and injuries to his face.
Two people told police Hibbs had confessed to them about murdering King, telling them that he had met a man on a walking path.
Hibbs said the man had invited him drinking and, as they were sitting on the ground, the man got on top of him and sexually assaulted him. The witnesses said Hibbs told them that he had “snapped” and broken a wine bottle over the man’s head, then stabbed him with a knife.
Hibbs told one of the witnesses he had put on the man’s clothing and gathered up everything on the ground in a box before leaving.
One of the witnesses gave police a video in which Hibbs was captured saying, “I beat an old man to death, that’s sad,” and spoke of asking “consent before you touch someone.”
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for Hibbs, and he was arrested in Calgary nearly a year after King’s death. Police escorted him back to St. John’s, where he has been in custody ever since.
Hibbs’ lawyer, Jason Edwards, asked the court for a pre-sentencing report – a report prepared by a probation officer to assist with sentencing, with information on an offender’s circumstances, including their family, medical, educational, employment and criminal history; their attitude towards their crime; their support network; and other elements. Presentencing reports include interviews with the offender and those connected to them, and generally take about two months to complete.
Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Vikas Khaladkar will hear the report and sentencing submissions from counsel June 18.