Edmonton man who stabbed ex-girlfriend to death to spend 18 years behind bars before parole eligibility

WARNING: This story contains graphic and disturbing content.

An Edmonton man who admitted to stabbing his ex-girlfriend 101 times and mutilating her body will spend 18 years in jail before he is allowed to apply for parole.

In August, Silva Koshwal was convicted of the second-degree murder of 38-year-old Nadine Skow. Koshwal was also found guilty of offering an indignity to Skow’s body.

Second-degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence but what was still to be determined was how long Koshwal will spend behind bars before he is eligible to apply for parole.

Koshwal learned his fate in an Edmonton courtroom on Thursday morning.

“I’d hoped for more but I’m pleased with 18 years,” Crown Prosecutor Laurie Trahan said. The Crown asked that Koshwal spend 20 to 25 years behind bars before he could apply for parole.

“Knowing that Mr. Koshwal will be off the streets of Edmonton for a good long time — I wish I’d been able to convince Justice Sanderman for more time, but I’m pleased with 18.”

Nadine’s father, Harvey Skow, said he feels justice has been served.

“I’m happy with it,” he said outside court Thursday. “We got him and that’s good.”

An agreed statement of facts read at the trial stated Koshwal and Skow had dated for three years but were no longer together. Early on the morning of Aug. 24, 2015, Koshwal came to Skow’s building in the area of 106 Avenue and 104 Street and walked into her suite.

He stabbed her to death, leaving a scene that senior homicide investigator Bill Clark described at the time as one of the most horrific of his career.

Koshwal kept stabbing her, even after she died, using multiple knives from her kitchen, the statement said.

Several tenants in the building said they heard a woman screaming. One said she yelled, “He’s going to kill me. Help me. He’s going to kill me” three times.

Nobody called police.

WARNING: The video below contains graphic and disturbing content

1:44 Edmonton man’s request to be found not criminally responsible in ex-girlfriend’s death denied

After Skow did not respond to text messages and missed an important meeting at work, colleagues went to check on her.

Her body had been mutilated and some of her organs removed. Letters had been written in blood on the suite’s walls.

A little more than a day later, Koshwal walked into the downtown police station and told an officer, “I killed my wife.”

During the trial, Koshwal’s lawyer, Peter Royal, tried to argue his client was not criminally responsible for his actions. That argument was thrown out by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman.

Koshwal will receive credit for the time he’s already spent in custody, which is about four years.

With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News.