It’s been three years since Mary Jane Lafferty’s son Elvis was stabbed to death. When a door opens, she still turns to see if he’ll walk in.
“I’ll never be able to see my son again. Everyday I wish this never happened. Jealousy ... can kill,” said Lafferty, reading from a victim impact statement presented during a sentencing hearing for convicted murderer Kevin Mantla Wednesday.
In the early hours of Sept. 28, 2015, after flying from from Gameti to Yellowknife, Mantla,39, entered his ex-partner’s Lanky Court apartment. Inside, Mantla stabbed and killed Lafferty - his former partner’s boyfriend. Mantla then turned the blade on his ex-partner, nearly severing her hand as she struggled to defend herself from what prosecutors called a “brutal” and “focused” assault. Mary Jane and Elvis’ father, Archie - along with Mantla’s young son and his former partner's daughters - were inside the apartment during the attack.
Mantla was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder in May. In Canada, second-degree murder convictions carry an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.
Crown prosecutor Jill Andrews called for a parole ineligibility period of 20 years - five years shy of the maximum sentence - during Wednesday’s hearing in NWT Supreme Court. The Crown is also seeking a DNA sample, a weapons ban, and a no contact order for Mantla and his former partner and her children.
“No sentence imposed can make up for the heartache this crime has caused,” said Andrews, addressing Justice Louise Charbonneau.
Calling the 2015 stabbing the “ultimate form of domestic violence,” Andrews said the 20-year recommendation appropriately reflects the “sudden and senseless” nature of the jealousy-fueled attack - and the enduring emotional and physical damage it caused.
Mantla, Andrews said, entered the Yellowknife apartment to carry out the “vicious” stabbing at a time when his victims were sleeping - when they were vulnerable and defenceless.
Some of Mantla's ex partner's children watched the attack “in horror,” she said. By committing the crime in front of children, Mantla demonstrated “almost unimaginable callus.”
“(The attack) will be seared in their memory. It will shape who they become,” she added.
Andrews said what led to the crime was Mantla's “uncontrollable jealousy and a desire to possess (his former partner and victim) at all costs."
A victim impact statement written by Mantla’s ex-partner was also read it court - one of eight in total.
“We’re not the same people anymore. We’ve changed,” she wrote, referring to the lasting impact the attack and murder of Lafferty had on her and her children.
The victim wrote she couldn’t remember being happy or enjoying life when she was with Mantla, who she called controlling and jealous. She walked on eggshells around him, the statement read, losing friends because of him and “losing sight” of who she was.
In her statement, Mantla’s ex-partner weighs forgiving him, but wrote she’ll never forget what he did.
Elvis, she remembered, was “good and kind.” “We laughed, we smiled, we cried … we had a special bond.”
The victim’s written words prompted sobs from half a dozen family members sitting in court, who shared tissue boxes - and the occasional knowing smile - throughout the hearing.
Mantla, who sometimes jotted down notes on a piece of paper, sat still, his gaze averted from those who shared their statements between tears.
Mantla, his lawyer Tracy Bock told the court, maintains his innocence and has expressed an intent to appeal his conviction.
Mantla choose not to speak before the court.
Bock is asking Charbonneau to consider parole eligibility in 15 to 17 years. Bock said Mantla, who was raised by relatives in a “loving” and traditional home in Gameti, turned to drinking and drugs at a young age following a traumatic house fire - which he witnessed - that claimed the life of his mother.
Charbonneau is expected to make a sentencing decision on Nov. 8.