WINNIPEG — A judge sentenced Thomas Brine to 25 years in prison on Thursday, a day after he was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2011 killing of Winnipeg grandmother, Elizabeth Lafantaisie.
Brine, 29, was given a mandatory life sentence and is not eligible for parole until 2036.
The sentencing was handed down on the five year anniversary of Lafantaisie’s death.
READ MORE: Thomas Brine guilty of first degree murder in killing of Winnipeg grandmother
CJOB 680 reported that outside the courtroom, family members of Brine and Lafantaisie were embracing. Brine’s father also apologized to the Lafantaisie family.
The jury reached its verdict Wednesday afternoon after deliberating for just two and a half hours.
READ MORE: Jury to begin deliberations in Winnipeg grandmother murder case
The jury of nine men and three women sat through five days of testimony and heard closing arguments on Tuesday. They started deliberations Wednesday and decided the verdict by 3 p.m. the same day.
Lafantaisie was beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled inside the Summerland Apartment Parkade on Feb. 18, 2011.
In a police interview 10 days after the murder when Brine was arrested, he admitted to stealing Lafantaisie’s car from her apartment parkade on Adamar Road just off Pembina Highway, saying the car was running.
He admitted to driving the stolen car to Summerland parkade. That’s where he claims he found Lafantaisie’s lifeless body in the trunk.
Brine also admitted to panicking, doing crack cocaine, driving to a car wash to get rid of his fingerprints, and then abandoning the car in Osborne Village.
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