Man pleads guilty to brutal 2022 killing of young Winnipeg mother

March 6, 2024 Canuck

A Manitoba man has admitted to repeatedly stabbing and brutally beating the mother of his child after she returned home from grocery shopping, in a deadly 2022 attack witnessed in part by two of her children.

Tessa Perry, a 31-year-old mother of four, had just gotten back to her home in Winnipeg’s Maples area on the evening of May 28, 2022, when Justin Alfred Robinson “became enraged” with her “for an unknown reason,” Crown attorney Danielle Simard told court on Monday morning during a brief appearance in a Winnipeg courtroom.

Simard said Perry and Robinson were in an “ongoing, on-and-off” relationship at the time of her killing. Perry’s aunt, Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, previously told CBC News that Perry had experienced domestic violence, and that Anderson-Pyrz — a longtime advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls — had helped her navigate the available resources.

Court heard that after he became enraged on the night of Perry’s death, Robinson, now 31, started assaulting Perry in front of two of her children. He hit her several times before taking the kids to an upstairs bedroom, then returning to continue assaulting Perry.

Robinson hit Perry several times with a frying pan, then used a paring knife to stab her multiple times. When Perry tried to run from the house, Robinson followed her outside, where he hit her 15 to 20 times with a wooden table leg that had a screw sticking out of it, mostly on her face and head, court heard.

People outside saw that part of the attack on Perry, and the first call to 911 was placed at 9:38 p.m. — meaning the entire incident lasted under 45 minutes, Simard said. Robinson was described as dropping the table leg, then “casually walking away from the scene.” Police later found him nearby with help from people in the area.

Perry was taken to the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre and pronounced dead a few minutes after arriving.

A person puts down a candle at a vigil. — A mourner lights a candle at a vigil for Tessa Perry. She was killed in May 2022 in Winnipeg. (Randall McKenzie/CBC)

Robinson admitted to the facts read in court and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Perry’s death, giving up his right to a trial.

That conviction carries an automatic life sentence, and means he won’t be eligible for parole for at least 10 years — though the sentencing judge is allowed to increase that time period.

Defence lawyer Mike Cook asked Court of King’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg to order a pre-sentence report. Sentencing is slated for late May.

Robinson has a long criminal record, with convictions for offences including assault and uttering threats dating back roughly a decade.

After Perry died, hundreds of people gathered at a vigil to mourn her and support her family. She was remembered as a gentle, caring mother with a contagious smile, who was working to make a better life for herself and her kids.

“She was very determined.… She went to university, she wanted to build a really secure pathway for her children — her children meant the world to her,” Anderson-Pyrz previously told CBC News.

“I want her to be remembered by her spirit and how bright it was.”

Perry’s brother, Lyle Perry, told CBC News at the time of his sister’s death that she had just moved to Winnipeg for a fresh start when she was killed.

“Just let it be known that my sister was too loving for her own good,” Lyle Perry said in a statement. “She loved to death.”

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