Woman to serve at least 11 years in prison for fatally stabbing senior

A 23-year-old woman who stabbed her 63-year-old friend 46 times after a night of drinking and drug use will serve at least 11 years in prison.

Skylynn Autumn Elizabeth Keeper, who was convicted of second-degree murder in January for the slaying of Arnel Deleon Arabe in an East Kildonan apartment on Oct. 3, 2021, was sentenced Wednesday.

Arabe and Keeper had been at a party at his sister’s apartment. They left to continue drinking and take cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms at Arabe’s apartment, where the stabbing took place.

A conviction of second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence with no eligibility to apply for parole for a minimum of 10 years.

“The general rule of 10 years is slightly elevated in this case to reflect the seriousness of the offence and the manner in which it was committed, but no more than necessary,” said Court of King’s Bench Justice Sarah Inness.

Inness called the assault on Arabe significant. She said she appreciated the statements of his family members who spoke about their loss in court.

“I was moved by the honesty and the love that the family members shared in describing their relationship with Mr. Arabe, his influence in their life, and the profound sense of grief and loss in his absence,” said Inness.

Crown prosecutor Manoja Moorthy had asked for Keeper to serve 13 years before parole eligibility while defence lawyers Jill Duncan and Tony Kavanagh recommended the mandatory 10-year sentence.

Keeper’s lawyers had argued she was too intoxicated to form the intent to kill and should instead be found guilty of manslaughter.

Keeper testified she did not intend to cause his death and was intoxicated by the alcohol, cocaine and mushrooms. She claimed Arabe had attacked her and she blacked out. When she regained consciousness, the victim was dead on his bed.

Inness did not find Keeper’s claims credible. She said she thought Keeper could recall what happened but withheld it during her testimony.

She noted Arabe’s brutal slaying remains unexplained.

“The lack of explanation or motive… leaves the court and Mr. Arabe’s family with no explanation for how or why the offence took place,” said Inness on Wednesday.

Arabe was found dead in the apartment he shared with his brother on Prevette Street near Munroe Avenue after the caretaker’s husband called police because the door was ajar and blood was on the handle.

Arabe and Keeper were seen on surveillance cameras entering his apartment building just before 1 a.m. When Keeper left, just before 7 a.m., blood stains were visible on her jacket and a box of beer was under her arm.

Police seized four knives from the apartment, one of which was stained with blood and located near Arabe. One of the knife wounds was to the jugular artery in his neck. Inness concluded Keeper used at least two of the knives to stab Arabe.

Arabe’s car, which was parked in the building’s lot, had a smashed-in driver’s window and blood stains on it.

Keeper wandered through a nearby park after the killing, conduct the judge called strange. She was arrested three days later.

Keeper has expressed remorse and regret by apologizing to Arabe’s family, Inness said.

Court was told Keeper has been addicted to drugs and alcohol since age 13, and was working to address that while in jail. She is originally from the remote Pauingassi First Nation and has been abused throughout her life. She has intergenerational trauma related to her grandparents having attended residential school.

She was evacuated to Winnipeg when forest fires threatened the community in 2021 and was sexually exploited by men — not including Arabe, who was simply a pal — while in the city.

Keeper was ordered to hand over her DNA to law enforcement. She will be banned from possessing weapons for life, unless hunting for food, once she is released on parole.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca