91社区破解版

James Joe Ward choked Maranda Shelly Peter three times on the night he killed her in the basement of his Riverdale house. Crown attorney Judy Hartling opened her statement in the 18-year-old Ward鈥檚 sentencing hearing in territorial court today by saying he killed his girlfriend 鈥渂y choking her to death ... she was 2 1/2 weeks shy of her 16th birthday.鈥�

Ward plead guilty to manslaughter last week. He was charged with first-degree murder last year after the RCMP found Peter鈥檚 badly-decomposed body hidden beneath his water bed last May. Peter had gone missing in March 1996. Between the time she went missing and her body was discovered, the RCMP and family members conducted a massive man-hunt that spanned the territory and beyond.

According to the Crown, on March 2, 1996, Peter and Ward left her mother鈥檚 house, saying they were off to the movies. 鈥淭hat was the last time Jesse Peter saw her daughter alive,鈥� said Hartling. Instead, the pair met up with an older friend, who bought them off-sales liquor. The three ended up at the Pioneer Inn, where an aunt of Ward鈥檚 was staying. There, the friends got drunk and smoked pot.

As the three got drunker and more stoned, an argument between Peter and Ward broke out over who had had more to drink. Between the fighting and the rowdiness, the three were finally kicked out of the hotel. Upon leaving, they made their way back to Riverdale, said Hartling. In the seven months that Peter and Ward had dated, they had broken up many times, Hartling added.

On the night Peter was killed, said Hartling, she had told friends she wanted to finally end it because Ward was violent and oppressive. There had been incidences when Ward was violent toward Peter, even strangling her, said the Crown. A few months before she was killed, Ward鈥檚 father had to break up three fights between the couple in his home, eventually phoning police. The case never went to court because Peter and Ward鈥檚 father refused to testify, said prosecutors.

On the night Peter was killed, Hartling said the two fought often on the way back to Ward鈥檚 house. Once, on the bridge to Riverdale, Peter attempted to kill herself by jumping into the Yukon River. Ward pulled her back down. Hartling said that during a psychological assessment at youth court services in Burnaby, B.C., Ward told doctors that while in his bedroom in the basement, Peter began bad-mouthing his family and calling his grandmother a 鈥渂itch and a whore鈥�.

After about 20 minutes of abuse, Ward said he 鈥渇lipped ... and grabbed Maranda Peter around the throat.鈥� Over the course of the evening, Ward said he 鈥渃ame to鈥� and found himself on top of his unconscious girlfriend on his bed. Twice more, he came to and found her making noise, so he mounted her body again and choked her until there was no life left.

The next morning, Ward said he woke up crying, had a cigarette, and tried to give Peter CPR. He said he kept thinking the whole thing was a bad dream, and didn鈥檛 believe he had actually killed her. That morning, in an attempt to cover his tracks, Ward phone Peter鈥檚 mother and asked to speak to his girlfriend. When asked by police why he had called, he said he still thought he was having a bad dream.

After spending a few days on a bender in 91社区破解版 and a week in Teslin, Ward returned to his home and 鈥渨edged鈥� Peter鈥檚 body under his waterbed. Her body stayed there for over a year. Ward slept upstairs until his father told him to move back to the basement. At times, Ward slept on a mattress he had put on the floor, but other times, he slept on his waterbed, said Hartling.

She also told of a time when Ward entertained friends and other girls in the basement. There was talk of a smell coming from the teenager鈥檚 room, but it was explained by a mildew problem. Ward was also known to use air freshener and keep windows open even in the dead of winter.

He also began keeping his basement door locked at all times. Crown counsel told Judge Heino Lilles that Ward was known for his violent behavior and alcohol abuse 鈥� all of which increased after Peter鈥檚 disappearance. There were incidences where Ward choked other people when they asked about Peter鈥檚 whereabouts. Although police and Peter鈥檚 family were suspicious of the boy, there were no charges laid until after his father discovered Peter鈥檚 body over a year later.

The Ward family was moving, and his father wanted to help move the waterbed in the basement. When he asked his son to go upstairs to get a key to his bedroom, Ward took off. His father entered the bedroom by opening the lock with a knife, and discovered the body as he tried to move the bed. He immediately called police.

A search for Ward ensued, with his father pleading for his son鈥檚 return. Eventually, Ward was found in his grandmother鈥檚 house in Carcross. He was hiding in the basement. In court today, the charges of second-degree murder and performing an indignity to a body were stayed. The hearing continued this afternoon, where testimony from doctors was expected. About a dozen people carrying signs protesting the downgrading of the murder charge to manslaughter walked back and forth in front of the Andrew Philipsen Law Centre this morning. They included friends of the Peter family; Shirley Adamson, chair of the Council of Yukon First Nations; and representatives of Kaushee鈥檚 Place, the 91社区破解版 transition home.

By Kathleen Goldhar