Manitoba
The ex-wife of Winnipeg serial killer testifies she was abused and routinely sexually assaulted in her sleep.
She says Jeremy Skibicki told her he was acting on ‘Sleeping Beauty syndrome’CBC News
· Posted: May 16, 2024 1:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago
A police photograph taken of Jeremy Skibicki in custody. (Manitoba Court of King’s Bench)WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
The ex-wife of a confessed Winnipeg serial killer testified Thursday that Jeremy Skibicki abused and routinely sexually assaulted her in her sleep during their relationship.
The woman, whom CBC is not naming because she is a sexual assault survivor, said Skibicki would regularly sexually assault her while she was passed out after taking sleeping medications at night, telling her he had a fetish called “Sleeping Beauty syndrome.”
The woman testified she later filed a protection order against him.
During her testimony, she wore glasses with rose-coloured lenses, which she told the Crown she has to wear because of a concussion she got from an incident involving Skibicki.
Skibicki, 37, is accused of first-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of three First Nations women — Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26 — as well as the death of an as-yet-unidentified woman who has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by community leaders. She is believed to have also been Indigenous and in her 20s when she died.
Prosecutors have said the women’s deaths were intentional and racially motivated, and that Skibicki preyed on vulnerable Indigenous women at Winnipeg homeless shelters.
Skibicki’s legal team is arguing he shouldn’t be held criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Left to right: Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois. Jeremy Skibicki is accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of all three women, as well as the death of an unidentified woman, whom community leaders have given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. (Submitted by Winnipeg Police Service and Darryl Contois)The ex-wife testified that she met Skibicki in February 2018 at Siloam Mission.
She said Skibicki was with two friends and invited her back to his apartment building. She testified Skibicki told his friends at the apartment, “I really like this one.” They got married a few months later.
She says she had contact with him over social media in May 2022 when he sent her a message asking her to forgive him if he ended up going to prison.
Skibicki messaged her close to midnight on May 9, 2022 that “I might not be caught,” court heard, after he’s believed to have killed the first three victims, but before he killed the fourth. “But I could be doing like three life sentences.”
The woman testified she later ended up calling Skibicki because, knowing what he had messaged her and what their relationship had been like, she had “a feeling that something terribly wrong had happened.”
She said Skibicki wouldn’t tell her what happened, and said if he admitted to what he’d done that he would have to go on the run. The woman testified she ended up praying for him after that.
“I knew that he’d done something really bad, so I prayed that he would tell the truth and that whatever he had done, that he’d come clean so that whoever or whatever had happened would have some closure,” she said.
The trial before Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal continues Thursday afternoon, when Skibicki’s defence team is expected to cross-examine the accused’s ex-wife.
Support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Immediate emotional assistance and crisis support are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national hotline at 1-844-413-6649.
You can also access, through the government of Canada, health support services such as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.
CorrectionsCBC initially reported that Skibicki knew his ex-wife for two months before getting married. In fact, it was about six months.
May 16, 2024 1:00 PM CT
