Musila pleaded responsible to committing an indignity to Worsfold’s stays however insisted she solely did so in a panic after discovering Worsfold lifeless in his mattress on July 7, 2017
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For Donna Doak, Ronald Worsfold was her “work husband” of 34 years, an expensive pal who was like an uncle to her daughters. For Shawna Marie Flett and Paxton Clarke, he was a gruff however loving grandfather, recognized for his home made pickles and massive bear hugs. And for Stacey Worsfold, he was her dad, “the one one that beloved me fully, with out judgment.”
He was, an Edmonton courtroom heard Wednesday, rather more than a murdered senior in a tote bin.
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5 of Ronald Worsfold’s family members gave sufferer impression statements at a sentencing listening to for Beryl Musila, who a jury convicted earlier this yr of murdering Worsfold in 2017.
Musila, a tenant on the St. Albert residence constructing Worsfold managed, listened quietly from the prisoner’s field because the statements had been learn. She faces a compulsory sentence of life in jail with no likelihood of parole for 25 years, which Courtroom of King’s Bench Justice Larry Ackerl is predicted to formally impose Thursday.
Worsfold was 75 when Musila killed him in his residence suite on July 7, 2017. She later loaded his physique right into a plastic tote bin, which she deserted on a junk pile at an acquaintance’s rural property after hauling it across the Edmonton space. Police arrested her two days after Worsfold’s dying.
Musila represented herself at trial after firing a number of legal professionals. She pleaded responsible to committing an indignity to Worsfold’s stays however insisted she solely did so in a panic after discovering Worsfold lifeless in his mattress on July 7, 2017. She claimed an unidentified third social gathering killed Worsfold, then planted proof to border her.
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Prosecutors argued Musila drugged Worsfold, then stabbed him to dying when he seemed to be overdosing. No concrete motive was supplied, however the Crown urged Musila both wished to keep away from having intercourse with Worsfold, or meant to steal his assortment of sports activities memorabilia.
Worsfold was certainly one of 13 youngsters, born to homesteader mother and father who migrated as his father adopted work with CN Rail, Stacey Worsfold informed courtroom. He later moved to town for work and married a lady who predeceased him. Worsfold described her father as an introvert who all the time noticed the nice in individuals — together with Musila, who was a younger single mom when she first rented a room at 75 Mission Ave.
He beloved feel-good films “that open us as much as the likelihood that love, kindness, compassion, empathy and understanding (are) the remedy to all that harms humanity,” Worsfold mentioned.
Household and associates all described Ronald Worsfold as a tough employee. He labored alongside Doak at an area Petro-Canada station for many years, and — along with serving as 75 Mission’s live-in constructing supervisor — ushered at Rexall and Rogers Place.
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“I used to have the ability to drop in and see him at house or work, in search of him at hockey video games, live shows or at Ok-Days,” mentioned Clarke. “I even miss making an attempt to repair no matter pc points he had.”
Clarke mentioned the very fact Ronald Worsfold won’t ever have the ability to meet his daughter, who was born after his dying, is the factor that makes him the saddest.
Ronald’s personal daughter — Stacey’s sister — died in 2021, earlier than Musila’s trial started. Flett, her daughter, mentioned the main points of Ronald Worsfold’s dying left her mom “emotionally devastated.”
“To seek out it was somebody he tried to assist and look after was one other surprising twist that was just the start of the nightmare … that got here our approach,” she mentioned. “Listening to of how his physique was disposed of with such disregard and callousness was one other.”
Musila was represented at Wednesday’s listening to by Caitlin Dick, a defence lawyer she retained after being discovered responsible. Dick mentioned her shopper was simply leaving a six-year abusive relationship when she met Worsfold. The abuse left Musila with psychological well being issues and led her to abuse medication, Dick mentioned.
“This trauma was recent, and never being handled,” Dick mentioned. “She was residing in St. Albert and making an attempt to outlive.”
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Musila’s youngsters — aged 9 and 11 — at the moment are residing along with her mother and father.
Crown and defence agreed a two-and-a-half yr sentence for the indignity to Worsfold’s physique is acceptable. The query is partly educational because the sentence could be served concurrently the life sentence, and could be lined by Musila’s 2,269 days of pre-trial custody.
Dick mentioned the courtroom ought to think about Musila’s prolonged remand stint — which has encompassed everything of the COVID-19 pandemic — a mitigating issue.
She additionally raised the spectre of Robert Rafters, Musila’s one-time boyfriend, who Musila unsuccessfully claimed knew about Worsfold’s physique when he helped her load the tote bin right into a taxi. Rafters denies any involvement.
Musila declined a possibility to deal with the courtroom.
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