Windsor man sentenced to 10 years for ‘gruesome’ murder of his mother

Article content

Much harsher than any sentence the court can impose, a villager convicted of killing his mother with bare fists two years ago was told that he had the rest of his life to ponder the “gruesome” crime.

Article content

“I still love my mom and miss her every day,” 35-year-old William Mackenzie said before Superior Court Judge Bruce Thomas handed down his sentence.

Mackenzie was originally charged with murdering 64-year-old Katherine Mackenzie in an assault while intoxicated at the woman’s west Windsor pension sometime before the owner discovered her body on July 24, 2019. But During a brief hearing through Zoom this week, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

By accepting a joint submission from Crown attorneys and the defense that avoided a murder trial, Thomas handed Mackenzie a 10-year prison sentence.

“It’s the saddest case,” Assistant Crown Counsel Jennifer Holmes told the court. “Millisecond. Mackenzie didn’t deserve this. It’s awful, frankly, that he took her life.”

Article content

It was not the first time that Mackenzie laid hands on her mother or, according to the prosecution, her first criminal conviction for assaulting her. “Sadly, it seems to be the case that they were both aggressive, against each other, the (previous) several years,” Holmes said.

The mother and son had a “difficult” relationship, Holmes said, with Alexander raised largely by his maternal grandmother. They fought and argued often, with the son’s behavior linked to serious addictions to alcohol and street drugs.

Mackenzie was described as “very intoxicated” the day before her mother’s body was discovered, and claimed to have poor recollection of the events at the boarding house in the 600 block of Mill Street or even the exact day or time. There were signs of blunt trauma to the head, face, torso and limbs of the victim, who may still have been alive when her attacker left the scene.

Article content

“He said he had no intention of killing her,” Holmes said. But with her guilty plea, Mackenzie “admits … he caused her death.”

Although the assault resulted in the death of the mother, the court heard that it was not the actual cause of her death. An autopsy revealed that a pre-existing heart condition that led to cardiac arrest was “a significant factor in his death.”

However, the judge said, the woman died “clearly as a result of a physical beating.”

“I’m so sorry for what happened,” said Mackenzie, dressed in orange jail clothes and appearing via Zoom from Sarnia jail. He described the fatal assault on his mother as “a terrifying loss of control.”

With 41 months of credit for just over 27 months of actual time spent in custody prior to sentencing, Thomas sentenced Mackenzie to another six years and seven months remaining to serve. He was also given a lifelong gun ban and ordered to provide a blood sample for a police DNA database.

Article content

The sentence, defense attorney Frank Miller said, is “too little to make up for the loss of a life.” However, while in custody since his arrest in July 2019, he said his client realized the impact of alcohol and drugs and “made the decision to live a different life.”

He said Mackenzie, whose criminal past of assaults, burglaries and robberies may be linked to substance abuse, plans to continue her education and has “found religion” in jail, with the goal of “following a moral compass in the future.” .

As he matures, Miller said, “he will realize the horror of what he has done.”

[email protected]

twitter.com/schmidtcity