Killer receives life sentence

WINNIPEG — On the eve of the one-year anniversary 28-year-old mother of four Briannah Clowes died following a frenzied knife attack, family members shared their pain inside a Winnipeg courtroom Thursday as her killer was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Ryan Kennedy, 33, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the Oct. 31, 2024 killing, admitting to stabbing Clowes — a woman he considered a friend — 44 times in the back, chest, head, neck and extremities.

“The last time I saw my daughter she was unrecognizable to me — a vision that will remain with me forever,” Clowes’ mother, Tanya Clowes, told King’s Bench Justice Herbert Rempel, describing her daughter as “full of charisma, love and compassion.”

Briannah Clowes, 28, is remembered as a former health-care aide and mother of four. Her killer was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

“A daughter is supposed to bury her mother, not I her,” she said. “There is no greater pain in the world. This will haunt me to the end of my days.”

Briannah’s children and family will forever be reminded of her death every Halloween, Tanya Clowes said.

“It stabs us in the heart any time we see (Halloween displays),” she said.

Court heard Clowes was sleeping in the suite of a male resident at the Promenade apartment complex behind Portage Place mall when Kennedy arrived at about 5:30 a.m. Kennedy and the other man smoked crack together and Kennedy showed him a butcher knife and cleaver he was carrying before the two men fell asleep.

Clowes, Kennedy and the male resident all awoke around noon and spent about an hour together “with no issues,” before the male resident left the suite to run some errands.

Sometime between 1 p.m. and 1:35 p.m., Kennedy armed himself with a knife and stabbed and slashed Clowes 44 times about the head and body. The apartment suite resident returned home around 3 p.m. and found Clowes dying on the floor. Clowes was rushed to Health Sciences Centre, where she died a short time later.

Kennedy’s presence in the suite at the time of the killing was confirmed by the male resident and security video. Kennedy was arrested two days later.

“There is no good explanation for why (the killing) occurred, Crown attorney Carla Dewar said, describing Clowes as another in a long line of vulnerable Indigenous women to lose their lives to violence.

Dewar and defence lawyer Mike Cook jointly recommended Kennedy serve 10 years in prison before he is eligible for parole, the minimum period allowed under the Criminal Code. Cook said Kennedy has a family history of residential school involvement, experienced early exposure to violence and substance abuse, and spent years in foster care, where he suffered ridicule and abuse for his sexual orientation.

Kennedy spent time living on the street where he traded sex for drugs, Cook said. Kennedy “doesn’t have a clear recollection of what happened” the day Clowes was killed because he was intoxicated by drugs, Cook said.

“He went there with no malice or intent to cause her any harm,” he said.

Cook described Kennedy as a kind and timid man.

“Unfortunately, on that day, in that apartment, a very different Ryan Kennedy took hold of a knife and ended the life of Briannah Clowes,” Cook said.

Kennedy addressed court, saying Clowes’ family “had every right to hate me.”

“I didn’t just ruin my life, I ruined the lives of the ones I love and the ones that were close to Briannah and loved her dearly,” he said. “I’m very sorry for the person I became.”

» Winnipeg Free Press