Thirty-two-year-old Brett Overby of Winnipeg was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years July 2 for killing 21-year-old Christine Wood of Oxford House in 2016.
Overby was found guilty May 8 of second-degree murder.
The Canadian Press reported that Overby said he felt terrible for what happened but that Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Jusitce Chris Martin rejected Overby’s claim of being provoked and said his only regret was about being caught.
Wood, a Bunibonibee Cree Nation member, was with her parents in Winnipeg to accompany another family member to a medical appointment at the time she went missing. The former University of Winnipeg student went out for the evening on Aug. 19, 2016 and never returned, with calls and texts to her cell phone going unanswered.
Wood’s body was found in the rural municipality of Springfield in June 2017. Overby was charged with her murder a couple of months earlier after being arrested on an unrelated matter and Winnipeg police executing a search warrant at his residence.
Christine Wood’s father George Wood told the Canadian Press outside court after the sentencing that Overby going to jail wouldn’t take away her family’s pain
“It will always be there," he said. "If there was something I could say to my daughter right now, 'I miss you. I wish this didn't happen to you. ... If only I was there to protect you.'"
Overby admitted during the trial that he killed Wood but said that he didn’t remember what happened and hadn’t meant to hurt her, the Canadian Press reported in May. Jurors heard that Wood was stabbed 11 times and had her throat slit and her skull and legs broken.
Overby and Wood met through the dating website Plenty of Fish and went for drinks before going back to Overby’s house, court heard. Overby claimed they had sex and that Wood began behaving erratically, punching him in the face and pressuring him to have unprotected sex. He claimed Wood came at him with a knife when he took her into his basement to show her a mouse skeleton and that he blacked out at that point.
“No sentence will ever be enough to compensate for the horrific loss of this intelligent, young First Nations woman,” said Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee in a statement on the organization’s website. “I want to once again express and extend my deepest condolences to the Wood family on the loss of their daughter. I hope this sentence brings some closure and I pray the family can find some healing in their ongoing journey of grieving their daughter. We need to work to honour the memory of Christine Wood. Let us remember what she went through and how hard her family worked to find her as they searched for answers. Let us continue to work together in implementing the Calls to Justice from the Final Report of the National Inquiry into MMIWG. I urge all leaders and Manitoba residents to do what they can to create a safer province for our Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people. We are all part of the solution, let’s work together collectively.”
“The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs offers their support to the family of Christine Wood at this time” said Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas in a July 3 press release. “As the memories of these horrific events resurface, we stand with the family and continue to offer our deepest sympathies. The sentencing yesterday will not bring back Christine, but we hope it will be an important step in the family’s journey of healing. May our reflection on Christine’s life spur us on to do more to protect our young First Nations women and girls. The loss of Christine reminds us that we all need to take action and respond to the recommendations of the report from the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. We need to work together to ensure that those who are most vulnerable are kept safe.”
