The Membertou man who pleaded guilty to the beating death of a prominent gay rights activist in Halifax has been sentenced to serve another 703 days in custody.
“Mr. Denny remains a significant threat to society,” Judge Peter Rosinski said Thursday as he handed down his decision.
Andre Denny killed LGBTQ activist Raymond Taavel by beating him to death outside a bar in downtown Halifax in April 2012.
READ MORE: Family of Raymond Taavel describe grief, devastation after his death
Denny has also been sentenced to an additional three years probation.
The 703 days will be added to the time Denny has already served, and will possibly be spent in a hospital.
At his sentencing hearing Thursday, Judge Rosinski outlined the severity of the attack against Taavel, saying that the amount of force Denny used means he must have known he could have caused serious harm or death.
That night, Denny had left a psychiatric facility in Dartmouth without permission.
The judge Thursday talked at length about the amount of cocaine in his system.
Denny has been in custody since being arrested in 2012 – something his defence team was using as leverage in his sentencing.
Denny curses, yells in courtroom outburst
The court proceedings were briefly interrupted as Denny had an outburst while the judge was reading his decision.
Denny started cursing, interrupting the judge and saying he wanted to tell him “what the hell is going on.”
He shoved and cursed at his translator, as well as other people in the courtroom, before the court took a break.
READ MORE: Family of Raymond Taavel gets apology from province
Shortly after, Denny interrupted the proceedings a second time, standing up and saying “excuse me sir, I don’t think I did this murder.”
He then told the judge he wanted him to take his DNA and compare it with blood.
Judge Rosinski talked about Denny’s lengthy criminal history and previous charges of assault causing bodily harm and harming an animal.
He said Denny made a series of poor decisions the night he fatally beat Taavel.
Live blog of proceedings:
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