Kirk Keeping to serve 16 years before possibility of parole for murder of Chantel John
Kirk Keeping, who pleaded guilty in April to the second-degree murder of Chantel John of Conne River, must serve 16 years of a life sentence before he will be eligible for parole, ruled the provincial Supreme Court on Thursday. (Troy Turner/CBC)
Kirk Keeping, who has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Conne River woman Chantel John in January 2019, must serve 16 years before he will be eligible for parole, following a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court ruling on Thursday morning.
Keeping pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and second-degree murder of John in April. He also pleaded guilty to uttering threats and two breaches of probation.
In addition to the life sentence, Keeping was sentenced to two years for assault with a weapon, one year apiece for uttering threats and a breach of undertaking, and 60 days for breach of probation. The sentences are concurrent.
John, 28, a member of the Miawpukek First Nation, was murdered in Conne River in 2019.
According to an agreed statement of facts submitted to the court in April, Keeping arrived at the house of one of John's relatives, saying he wanted to return some of her things after they'd broken up. He instead attacked her outside with a knife.
John ran into the home and Keeping followed. He attacked another family member with the knife and hit John in the back of the head with it. He also threatened another family member who confronted him. John managed to escape to the house of a neighbour, who tried to stop the bleeding, but by the time paramedics arrived, she had died.
Police found Keeping, who was bleeding with stab wounds after trying to take his own life, in his car near Milltown, and he was taken to hospital.
Keeping's court case was delayed several times.
He was first slated to stand trial for the first degree murder of John in May 2021 but fired his legal aid lawyers, Derek Ford and Derek Hogan, minutes before the start of jury selection.
He has remained in custody since 2019.
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