Victim's family wants man who murdered wife on Portage Avenue to stay in prison
Debra Peary encourages witnesses of 1994 daylight attack to give statements for Bruce Stewner's parole hearing
It's been 22 years, and not a day passes that Debra Peary doesn't think about her sister Kelly Lynn Stewner, who was murdered a month before she turned 24, in broad daylight on Portage Avenue near Assiniboine Park, by her then husband.
Come November though, Stewner will be eligible for full parole, and Peary is asking anyone that may have been affected by the brazen attack in May 1994 to come forward and submit a statement to the Parole Board of Canada.
"If you weren't able to help then, or you didn't know what to do then, you're able to help now," said Peary. "You're able to do something about it now, and it could be part of your healing process."
Stewner was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 20 years in 1995. The judge at the time described it as one of the most vicious, brutal and violent stabbings he had seen. Stewner and Kelly Lynn had been fighting in a car while driving on Portage Avenue before Kelly Lynn fled the vehicle and Stewner chased after her, stabbing her more than 20 times on the busy street, in front of many witnesses.
"He hit her with so much force that the tip of the knife broke off in her skull," said Peary.
"For him to be able to remarry in jail, have children, have his life, Kelly doesn't have hers anymore," said Peary.
Peary thinks that keeping Stewner locked up is safe and she's encouraging anyone who was impacted directly or indirectly by witnessing the murder or the loss of Kelly Lynn to submit a victim impact statement through the Parole Board of Canada website by the October 3, 2016 deadline.
"Kelly's in a cold little place, underground. Let's keep him in his cold little place behind bars," said Peary.
