HALIFAX – The family of Loretta Saunders says they are glad that her killers pleaded guilty, but they are still trying to work their way through an emotional time.
Miriam Saunders, Loretta’s mother, said she has mixed feelings about the guilty pleas of Blake Leggette and Victoria Henneberry.
“I have joy. There’s sadness there. I think about the parents of Blake and Victoria. I do feel for the parents because, as a mother, I’m seeing it on one end. I can’t imagine what their parents are feeling,” she said. “I’d like to let them know I have them in my prayers.”
The body of Loretta Saunders was found on the side of a New Brunswick highway in February 2014, about two weeks after she was last seen in Halifax. She was an Inuit student at Saint Mary’s University, where she focused her studies on missing and murdered aboriginal women.
WATCH: Loretta Saunders’s family members speak at Thursday’s press conference.
Leggette pleaded guilty Wednesday in Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court to first-degree murder and will be sentenced to an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Henneberry pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a life sentence and no parole eligibility of between 10 and 25 years.
Clayton Saunders, Loretta’s father, said he can’t find it in his heart to forgive his daughter’s killers, but he also imagines their families are suffering.
“My daughter didn’t deserve it. She was really good to them,” he said. “Forgive them or what, I can’t find it in my heart right now. I know that maybe he’s remorseful but nowhere sorry for what he had done.
“Loretta is in a better place now,” he said. “Her baby’s in a better place where they can’t be touched anymore.”
He said a big burden was lifted off the family after they heard guilty pleas were going to be entered.
“I don’t like to say it because he killed my daughter, he had to have a lot of nerve to admit that.”
On Wednesday, Leggette’s lawyer told the media that his client was remorseful. The family was asked whether they believed that to be true.
“By looking into his eyes the other morning, I believe he’s remorseful,” Miriam Saunders said. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
When asked whether the family could forgive Leggette and Hennebrry, she said it was too early for her to know.
“I have to work on that. It’s between me and god. I can’t say yes. I can’t say no,” she said.
Delilah Saunders said she didn’t know if she could forgive her sister’s killers yet.
“You go back and forth. You become re-victimized and traumatized sometimes,” she said. “It all floods back as if it was the first day you experienced it and learned about it. Right now I’m not focusing on them at all.”
WATCH ABOVE: The father of Loretta Saunders broke down in tears Thursday during a press conference a day after his daughter’s killers pleaded guilty in court.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Loretta Saunders was killed when she went to collect rent money owed by Leggette and Henneberry.
Miriam Saunders told the media she wasn’t aware her daughter had any roommates until she went missing. She said she did not want her daughter to be so trusting of strangers, and said the reason she found roommates was to help pay her bills while she completed her studies.
“How could someone take a life for any amount of money, especially a little bit of rent money?” she said.
She said it was one of the reasons she has been active in setting up scholarships and bursaries to honour Loretta’s memory.
“It’s financial help to a student. I know from Loretta needing financial help… it removes the financial burden,” she said. “If my daughter hadn’t needed money, she’d be alive today.”
The family said they also plan to become more involved in the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women — the issue was the topic of Loretta Saunders’s university thesis.
“My daughter was Inuk. She was an Inuit girl. I’d like to why. Why our children, our mothers, our sisters are being murdered at such a high rate,” Miriam Saunders said.
When asked what the family would say or do if they could see Loretta, her father and mother had different answers.
“I don’t think I would say very much. I would grab her and hug her I think,” Clayton Saunders said.
Miriam Saunders said she is very proud of her daughter.
“I say to her every day I’m proud of her. I’m proud for what she accomplished in her short life, in her 26 years. I talked to her constantly in my heart. I tell her now I’m so proud of her and that I miss her and that I’ll see her again.”
WATCH: The sister of Loretta Saunders, Delilah, made a statement on behalf of her family Thursday morning in reaction to a surprise guilty plea in court.
The full statement read by the family of Loretta Saunders:
While some degree of justice has been the served, we cannot forget the women and girls Loretta fought so passionately for. There are women who do not receive justice and families who do not receive answers. We are grateful that the perpetrators took responsibility but this often isn’t the case. It feels wrong to be so happy. They not only took a very important loved one from us, but a grandchild and a niece or a nephew. It’s a relief that our family will not have to experience the facts in a very public forum and that we can learn them and react organically and without sensor. Loretta may not be here today but her legacy lives on and will continue to grow through seeking justice for all missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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