Man who killed teen girl in Leduc school sentenced to life, no parole eligibility for 12 years
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of violence.
Dylan Pountney will be in his thirties by the time he’s allowed to apply for parole for murdering 17-year-old Jennifer Winkler during their high school social studies classroom.
The 22-year-old was given a life sentence on Thursday for second-degree murder, with no eligibility for parole for 12 years.
He’s been in custody since his arrest on March 15, 2021. With credit for time served, the ineligibility period will last about eight and a half years.
Sitting in the prisoner’s box in the Wetaskiwin Court of King’s Bench, Pountney bowed his head as Winkler’s best friends, family members and extended family gave victim impact statements.
They told the court about struggling to make sense of the morning of the murder — the panic when they heard Winkler was hurt, and the dread as they watched a STARS air ambulance fly over Christ the King School in Leduc, Alta.
Pountney, who the court found was experiencing psychosis, suddenly attacked Winkler during a mid-morning class break, in front of a teacher and several students.
He stabbed Winkler five times with a butcher knife he’d brought to school from his kitchen, and left her bleeding in the classroom doorway as he ran from the school.
Journie White said she’s spent every day since that Monday morning missing her best friend. She now has a tattoo of the date of Winkler’s death.
“I have spent the last three years regretting leaving that class because I wasn’t there when Jenny needed me the most,” she said.
“It was the beginning of so many of the worst days of my life, where my best friend should have been there but was taken too soon.”
White, who had gone to the school bathroom during the break, was left hiding there with another of Winkler’s best friends, Erika Williams, wondering if Winkler was OK as police swarmed the school.
Williams’s mother, Randie Williams, said the girls grew up being incredibly close, and Winkler’s death has shattered their family.
“At graduation, there was an empty seat. At our dinner table, there will always be an empty seat,” she told the court.
“Since Jenny was murdered at school, I have lost faith in the education system, faith in humanity, faith that safe places exist, faith in the justice system.”
The 12-year parole ineligibility period comes after the Crown asked for a 15-year period, while Pountney’s defence lawyer argued for it to be set at the minimum of 10 years.
Second-degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence, and if the Parole Board of Canada grants Pountney release in the future, he’ll still be subject to supervision for the rest of his life.
Pountney arrested, tried for 1st-degree murder
Pountney was eventually found hiding under a deck near the school after he killed Winkler, and was charged with first-degree murder. In an interview with an RCMP investigator — when he was still experiencing psychosis — he admitted he first thought about hurting Winkler several days earlier, and he wanted to “inflict pain” on her.
Pountney also acknowledged she was innocent and he shouldn’t have killed her, and he was ready to accept the consequences of what he’d done.
Pountney’s mother and Winkler’s father had a previous relationship and had a child together, so the offender and victim share a younger half-sibling. Pountney told the RCMP officer he was seeking “blood for blood” in revenge against Winkler’s father, and he blamed him for his mother’s death from cancer.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin said the state of Pountney’s mental health affects his degree of responsibility, with his state of psychosis driving “delusional grievances.”
But he underlined the “egregious” circumstances of the killing.
“Considerable force was used and the attack was unprovoked.… A classroom and a school are places where students must not only be made to feel safe, but in fact, must be safe,” Macklin said.
Victim impact statements
Many people arrived in court Monday wearing shirts and hoodies with Winkler’s face.
Throughout the morning, they told stories about how funny, sweet and artistically talented she was.
After she was killed, her stepmother and several of her friends spent months combing through her notebooks and art files, discovering an entire fantasy world she was designing, sketching out character ideas in pencil and developing digital artwork.
They put together a 60-page anthology of her work and called it “The Book of Dragons,” with the hope of eventually setting up a foundation in her name.
As he finished reading his victim impact statement, Winkler’s father, Dale Winkler, crumpled it into a ball and threw it toward the prisoner’s box.
“You rot in hell, you bastard,” he shouted.
He was escorted from the courtroom, and Macklin warned about decorum in court.
Dale Winkler told media afterwards that after three and a half years, his anger came out.
“Today is the day we move on and get Jenny’s legacy going and get her book out there, and people see who she was, what kind of person she was,” Dale Winkler said.
Jennifer Winkler’s brother, Sean Winkler, said he left angry, too. While some had shirts that read “Justice for Jenny,” his said “Vengeance for Jenny.”
“I will never forgive him. Never,” he said after the sentence was delivered.
Judge recommends psychiatric facility
A few of Pountney’s family members and a neighbour gave statements of support.
His father, Nathan Pountney, said his son was severely traumatized by the deaths of his mother and older brother, contributing to worsening mental health and addiction issues.
“I plea to you today to consider a safe place for Dylan to continue to recoup his mind,” he told the judge.
“I honestly hope in time the Winkler family can find peace. My apology doesn’t do anyone any good, I know.”
Court heard that during his time in custody, Pountney has participated in mental health and addictions treatment and finished his high school courses.
He stood to give a brief statement as court proceedings wrapped up Thursday.
“I just wanted to apologize for all the pain and suffering I caused Jenny’s family, for my family and for the community,” he said.
Macklin recommended that Pountney serve his sentence in a psychiatric facility.
“I hope you receive the treatment necessary and ultimately become a contributing member of society,” the judge told Pountney, before sheriffs escorted him from the room.
