Man who threatened victims' supporters during serial killer trial sentenced for 'vile,' 'chilling' remarks
Nicholas Delaney also pleaded guilty to uttering racist threats days later at Unity Walk
A man who verbally attacked a group that included victims' family members and made violent threats against one of their supporters during the trial of a Winnipeg serial killer last year has been sentenced to 15 months in jail in addition to time he's already spent in jail.
Nicholas Delaney, 39, pleaded guilty to uttering threats in connection with the May 2024 incident, in which he accosted a group of people sitting outside the downtown Winnipeg RBC Convention Centre. They were about to head back to court for the trial of Jeremy Skibicki.
That group included a daughter of Morgan Harris, one of four women Skibicki was later convicted of murdering.
Things got "heated" that day when Delaney accused an elder in the group of asking for money, then began acting in a "threatening manner" toward the man, Crown attorney Omar Siddiqui said during sentencing arguments Monday.
A woman who tried to intervene by putting herself in front of Delaney was then subjected to violent threats, including that Delaney would mutilate her and turn her body parts into boots, court heard. He then challenged everyone in the group to a fight before yelling, "White power."
Provincial court Judge Julie Frederickson on Friday called those threats "abhorrent and antithetical to Canadian beliefs and values," noting the "graphic, misogynistic and dehumanizing" language Delaney used.
Delaney, who sat in the prisoner's box wearing a grey T-shirt on Friday and leaned forward as he listened to the judge read his sentence, also pleaded guilty to uttering threats in connection with another incident days after the first one.
WATCH | Man verbally attacks, threatens victims' family members, supporters during Winnipeg serial killer trial:
In that incident, court heard he was carrying a knife and screaming racial slurs at a Unity Walk march, saying "we need to get rid of" Black and Indigenous people to make Winnipeg safe, Siddiqui said earlier this week.
While court heard Delaney was using methamphetamine and not taking his schizophrenia medication at the time, Frederickson said there was no evidence presented that showed a link between Delaney's mental health and his actions.
"While I acknowledge his mental health diagnosis, it does not meaningfully mitigate his actions and degree of responsibility. His words and actions were not delusions or disordered thoughts. His words were vile, pointed, specific and racist," the judge said.
"Having schizophrenia does not explain or excuse the hate-based nature of his comments, nor does it explain the chilling, graphic and specific threats made, or the further racist comments made to police when he was arrested several days later."
Those comments to police came when they asked him about what happened during the convention centre incident, and Delaney told them he was attacked by seven aboriginal people, saying he offered them a job and "they said, 'No, we don't work. We want free money," Siddiqui said Monday.
The prosecutor also noted that on the day the family members and supporters were accosted, they had just heard graphic details in court about how Skibicki preyed on his victims, how he killed them and what he did to their remains.
Apology
Three letters of reference were filed on Delaney's behalf, including one from his sister, who apologized for his "extremely shocking" behaviour.
Court also heard from the woman Delaney threatened, who said in a victim impact statement read Monday while his threats to do "gory, unfathomable things" to her "shattered" her sense of safety, she hoped the justice system would both hold him accountable and give him the help he needs to deal with the "mental health issues and aggression" that led to the incident.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 18 months for the first incident, and time already served in custody — just shy of 14 months with enhanced credit — for the second, followed by three years of probation.
The defence had requested Delaney be sentenced to the time he's already served in custody, followed by two years of supervised probation, saying his mental health was a prominent factor in what happened.
Frederickson agreed to sentence Delaney to the time he's already served for the Unity Walk incident, but gave him 15 months for the "more egregious" verbal attack outside the convention centre, which will be followed by two years of supervised probation.
She said while she accepted prosecutors' evidence Delaney's comments were motivated by hate and sentenced him accordingly, she took his apology in court earlier this week as sincere and said she hopes it may have given victims "some degree of comfort."
As Frederickson finished reading Delaney's sentence, she urged him to take advantage of the supports available to him in custody.
"I will," he said. "Thank you."
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