Teen planned man's killing at Assiniboine Park with 'brutal efficiency,' judge says at sentencing

WARNING: This story contains details of graphic violence.

A man's brutal murder by two teens at Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park was planned with "brutal efficiency," a judge said while sentencing one of the killers as an adult.

Paul Enns, 43, was lured to the park by a girl, then 15, in February 2022, before she stabbed him three times with a sharpened screwdriver.

Her boyfriend, who was 17, then fatally beat the man.

The two teens pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced on Wednesday, according to court recordings reviewed by CBC News.

Court of King's Bench Justice Vic Toews accepted the Crown's application to have the male youth sentenced as an adult. He was sentenced to life in prison, without parole eligibility for seven years.

Toews said evidence showed he was the "leader" in the attack, had the moral culpability of an adult at the time, and that a youth sentence would not be "sufficient enough" to hold him accountable.

"He planned the robbery, and he had the foresight to arm himself. He made a conscious decision to assault the victim and he carried out that plan with brutal efficiency," Toews said.

The two cannot be named due to a publication ban.

Youths aged 14 to 17 are presumed less morally culpable for their crimes than adults under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, and therefore have a constitutional right to be treated differently unless prosecutors can prove that they should be sentenced as an adult.

Toews says the girl from Stonewall, Man., now 18, was a "follower" in the attack, and sentenced her as a youth.

He rejected a joint recommendation between prosecutors and the defence, which asked that the girl spend two years in a youth correctional centre before two years of open custody. He said two years of secure custody "may not be sufficient to properly deal with her."

While Enns's stab wounds did not cause his death, Toews said the girl's willingness to use the sharpened screwdriver "is concerning."

Toews sentenced her to four years in secure custody, with another three years of probation — the maximum youth sentence permitted for second-degree murder.

Teens bragged about killing

The girl arranged to meet Enns at the park on the night of the murder, according to an agreed statement of facts. Her boyfriend hid outside as she got into the man's vehicle in the parking lot.

She initiated the attack, stabbing Enns with a sharpened screwdriver twice in the leg and once in the neck, before her boyfriend punched and hit Enns in the head with a baseball bat.

A woman can be heard crying in the court recording as Toews detailed Enns's injuries, which included skull fractures and broken jaw and eye socket bones.

Security guards at the park found Enns "curled up" in the back seat of his vehicle hours after the attack. There was a large amount of blood throughout the vehicle, and more blood spatter found on the ground outside.

The teens left the scene with Enns's car keys, phone and wallet.

Hours after the attack, he and his girlfriend met a friend and bragged about how they had beaten Enns. They showed the friend Enns's car keys and driver's licence, as well as scratches they got from him during the killing.

That same day, the pair used his credit card to buy popcorn and a pair of shoes for the girl at Polo Park shopping centre.

They also told another person over a video call that they watched Enns "beg for his life."

That person told the girl afterwards via text message that they didn't have to kill Enns for "being a pedophile."

"She said, 'Yes I did,'" and sent images of Enns's belongings."

'You'd be glad you didn't come'

Before the attack, the boy asked a friend to help him with "jumping a pedo," offering $300 as payment, but the friend refused, according to the agreed statement of facts.

The day after Enns was killed, he told the same friend over video chat, "You'd be glad you didn't come, if you're scared of open brains."

He also said that they beat Enns so badly that "there was nothing left" of him.

"He was laughing a lot like he was happy with it, and said there was absolutely no way he was going to get caught, because he was smart with it," the statement of facts said.

Police arrested the girl on March 1, 2022, and her boyfriend three days later. The two were initially charged with robbery, but it was stayed.