Judge Howard Leibovich sentenced Cory Fenn to life in prison on Tuesday morning in Oshawa High Court.
Fen, 33, was found guilty of three counts of second-degree murder in the 2018 murders of 39-year-old Krassimira Pejcinovski, her 15-year-old son Roy, and her 13-year-old daughter Venellia.
Leibovich decided that the periods of ineligibility for the murders of Pecinowski and Roy would be extended at the same time.
The judge is now awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Alexander Bissonnette case on whether it is constitutional to impose successive periods of incapacity for multiple murders before Fenn is convicted of Venellia’s murder.
The Quebec Court of Appeals has overturned Bissonnette’s 40-year period of ineligibility, which has pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder following the murder of six people in a Quebec city mosque in 2017.
The outcome of the Quebec case could shape the way Leibovich convicts Fenn.
A second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence of at least 10 years prior to parole.
The Crown had originally requested a 72-year prison sentence before Fen could apply for parole, but Fen did not comment.
“Destroy the family”
Leibovich called Fen’s actions “horrific” as he handed down the sentence.
“Mr Fen’s actions destroyed the family and caused significant damage to the community,” Leibovich said on Tuesday.
The Crown had demanded a sentence of 72 years before Fen managed to apply for parole, while Fen noted that 10 years would be “perfect”. Fen fired his lawyer before the trial and did not call for a defense, although a court-appointed lawyer made the final proposals on his behalf.
Fenn lived in the basement of Pejcinovski’s house and the two had a relationship that the judge described as “toxic”.
On March 14, 2018, Fenn stabbed Pejcinovski to death.
He continued to attack Roy, who was sleeping in his mother’s bed after a night of playing video games. Fen, a large man taking steroids, struck and then strangled the boy, according to the court.
Roy Pejcinovski, 15, who played in the Don Mills Flyers goal with Venellia Pejcinovski, can be seen in a photo posted on Twitter in 2015. (Instagram / Twitter)
Fen later attacked Venelia when the girl went to check on her mother. He hit the teenage girl and then stabbed her repeatedly with a butter knife.
Pejcinovski’s boss was worried about her and came home. Sherry Robinson testified that she noticed blood on Fan’s hand when she opened the door. He demanded to see Pejcinovski, but Fenn said he was asleep. Robinson left and called the police.
Fen blocked before police arrived, but police eventually located him in a shed in the home of an ex-girlfriend.
Fen told police after his arrest that he was in a state of cocaine psychosis at the time after eating for five days. The judge did not buy it.
Leibovich also did not accept the Crown’s motive that Fenn killed Pejcinovski after a split.
Instead, the judge said Fen’s words were likely to be heard by the nearest court for a motive. Fen said he was tired of Pejinski’s questions about being with another woman and that he was “fed up with it.”
