Sentencing for convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on Aug. 28

A sentencing hearing for Jeremy Skibicki has been scheduled for next month.

Earlier this month, a Winnipeg judge convicted Skibicki of first-degree murder in the 2022 slayings of four Indigenous women: Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman the Indigenous grassroots community refers to as Buffalo Woman.

A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Families will be able to provide victim impact statements during the Aug. 28 hearing.

Defence lawyers had argued Skibicki, 37, suffered from schizophrenia at the time of the killings and should be found not criminally responsible.

But Justice Glenn Joyal said he completely agreed with the psychiatrist who testified for Crown prosecutors. The judge said Skibicki didn’t have a mental disorder that affected his ability to know that the “shocking” killings were morally wrong.

Skibicki targeted the women at homeless shelters, then strangled or drowned them. He committed sex acts on their bodies and disposed of their remains in garbage bins.

The killings came to light in May 2022 when a man looking for scrap metal found the partial remains of Contois in a dumpster in Skibicki’s neighbourhood. More of her remains were discovered at a city-run landfill the following month.

During a police interrogation, Skibicki admitted to killing Contois and the three other women. He said the killings were racially motivated and cited white supremacist beliefs.