After 26 long years of waiting, the family of Candace Derksen finally saw their daughter’s killer brought to justice. But there were mixed feelings among her loved ones.
“This is putting another life away, so that’s hard. I don’t think this is a day of rejoicing. It doesn’t bring Candace back,” said Wilma Derksen, Candace’s mother.
On Thursday afternoon, Justice Glenn Joyal handed down the toughest penalty possible under Canadian law to Mark Edward Grant, the man who was convicted of killing the 13-year-old girl.
Derksen was found frozen to death, hog-tied in a shed near the Nairn overpass in January 1985. Years later, police were able to crack the decades-old case with DNA evidence found on the twine used to bind Derksen’s hands to her ankles. The forensic evidence was used to link Grant to the murder, and he was convicted of second degree murder in February 2011.
At his sentencing hearing, prosecutors asked the judge to keep the details of the crime in mind while sentencing, and asked for the toughest possible penalty: life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
"It was completely random and therefore frightening…" said Crown attorney Brian Bell.
"Any member of society would find his actions sadistic and callous."
Joyal agreed with Crown counsel and sentenced Grant to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for a crime which “shocked and unsettled” the city of Winnipeg.
“I have noted his troubled upbringing, nonetheless, I cannot and will not ignore his criminal record,” Joyal said.
“The offense is serious. It involves a senseless and unspeakably cruel act.”
Sister Tina Ulrich of the Holy Cross Parish had visited Grant while he was in prison and said the convicted killer has found God while incarcerated.
“We talk a lot about his relationship with God, how he is trying to deal with this,” she said.
Derksen’s mother said she was also disappointed that her daughter’s killer didn’t show any remorse or make any statements in court on Thursday.
“I think that’s probably what’s missing in all of this, is that meeting between offender and victim in a safe place,” said Derksen.
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