In the murders of a woman and two of her children east of Toronto, an Ontario man was convicted guilty of three charges of second-degree murder.
For the killings of 39-year-old Krassimira Pejcinovski, her 13-year-old daughter Venellia, and her 15-year-old son Roy, Cory Fenn had pled not guilty to three counts of second-degree murder.
According to Justice Howard Leibowich, Fenn intended for all three persons to die.
The prosecution has said Fenn killed all three in a rage on March 14, 2018, in Ajax, Ont., after Krassimira Pejcinovski broke up with him. The mother and her daughter were found stabbed to death, while the boy was strangled.
Fenn argued he did not have the mental ability to commit the crimes, but did not call a defence.
A court-appointed lawyer assisting Fenn said the man killed all three, but argued he did not have the requisite state of mind to commit murder due to his extensive use of cocaine, rendering him in a psychotic state at the time.
Court heard that Fenn and Pejcinovski had an on-again, off-again relationship while Fenn lived in the basement of Pejcinovski’s home.
The Crown said Pejcinovski’s oldest daughter, Victoria, who was 16 at the time, had found cocaine on the stove the day before the deaths. She confronted her mother and told her Fenn had to go, she testified. Krassimira Pejcinovski agreed and said she would break up with Fenn.
Pejcinovski spent much of that night in the basement with Fenn, which she often did in the past, court heard, the pair snorting cocaine together.
Her oldest daughter left around 9:30 p.m. to go to her father’s home and told court she became worried when her mother failed to pick her up for a driving lesson the following morning.
When her mother failed to respond to text messages, she called her younger sister, who was in her bedroom with her friend for a sleepover, court heard. Venellia left the room to go check on her mom, court heard.
Shortly after that, the Crown said, Fenn attacked the girl, leaving her eyes blackened, stabbed her with a butter knife and stuffed her body under a bed.
The friend who was in the home for the sleepover testified she heard Fenn coming up the stairs, breathing heavily. He asked her where Victoria was, before turning around returning downstairs, leaving her unharmed.
Shortly afterward, Krassimira Pejcinovski’s boss showed up, worried after her employee had failed to show up to work.
Sherry Robinson testified she noticed blood on Fenn’s arms and foot. She left, drove down the street and called police.
Fenn took off in his car, which he later ditched at a gas station, and went to an ex’s place. Police found him later that day hiding in a shed.
According to the court, Pejcinovski suffered many fractures to her head and jaw, as well as 17 cracked ribs and significant bruising throughout her face, neck, chest, and extremities. Fenn departed to get a knife and returned after she maintained breathing after an attempted strangling in the garage.
According to the court record, Fenn claimed he would never have done it if he hadn’t been high on cocaine.
Fenn said he was like “the walking dead” at the time of the killings during closing arguments in late October.
“The mental element was missing,” he explained. “It’s like the Wizard of Oz saying, ‘If only I had a brain’ — I didn’t have one, people.”
Source_ The Canadian Press
