The families of six women slain after disappearing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside will have their chance to address Robert William Pickton directly Tuesday as the Coquitlam, B.C., pig farmer is sentenced for their murders.
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Pickton, 58, was found guilty Sunday on six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin and Brenda Wolfe.
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Pickton faces 20 more murder charges and is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 17 to fix a date for a possible second trial.
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The six second-degree murder convictions will automatically result in six life sentences to be served concurrently. But on Tuesday, the judge will decide how long Pickton must serve before he can apply for parole. The possible range is 10 to 25 years, again to be served concurrently.
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Before sentencing Pickton, Justice James Williams will hear from family members who will address the convicted serial killer directly in B.C. Supreme court in New Westminster during their victim impact statements.
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The relatives' statements are sure to weigh heavily on the judge's decision, said B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal, who heard many victim impact statements himself during his time as a provincial Supreme Court judge.
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"They have a very significant part in the sentencing process," Oppal told CBC News. "Under the law, the judge is obligated to consider the impact the crimes had on the victims."
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But the families are not supposed to use the statements as an opportunity to plead for a more severe penalty, said John Rosen, a criminal defence lawyer who represented convicted killer Paul Bernardo.
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"The purpose of the victim impact statements is two-fold: firstly, to give the victim a voice in the sentencing process; and secondly, to give them a catharsis, a sense of closure, that they have the final say to some extent as to what's to happen to this man," Rosen told CBC News Tuesday.
'We can hold our heads high'
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Lori-Ann Ellis, whose sister-in-law Cara Ellis is among the 20 other women Pickton is accused of killing, offered her own victim impact statement following Sunday's verdict.
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"Mr. Pickton, we can hold our heads high, and we can know that we have the truth," Ellis told a crowd of relatives and reporters outside court. "Every morning, we can look in the mirror. Can you?"
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Pickton has already served six years in prison while awaiting trial.
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Oppal said Pickton has little chance of convincing a parole board to release him.
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"It will be difficult to ever conclude that Mr. Pickton will ever see the light of day again," he said.
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Some family members and social workers are also calling for a public inquiry into the way police handled the investigation into the missing women.
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They say reports of women going missing from the Downtown Eastside went uninvestigated by Vancouver police for too many years.
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Stories of women disappearing from the Downtown Eastside started emerging in the 1980s. By the 1990s, sex trade workers believed a serial killer was at work.
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But police kept insisting the missing women were just missing and that there was no evidence of foul play.