Man sentenced to 14 years for fatally beating girlfriend in Montreal apartment
Brandon McIntyre has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter last month in connection with the beating death of his girlfriend, Rebekah Harry, 29.
McIntyre, now 35, will also serve nine months concurrently for assaulting another woman, an ex-girlfriend.
Harry, who had a nine-year-old son at the time of her death, was beaten while the couple — together just three months — visited McIntyre's ex-girlfriend in the Montreal borough of LaSalle on March 20, 2021.
With his guilty plea on April 12, McIntyre's charges were reduced, he did not have to stand trial, and he avoided life imprisonment.
He was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was downgraded to manslaughter because the Crown, led by Jasmine Guillaume, could not prove before Superior Court Judge Marc-André Blanchard beyond a reasonable doubt that McIntyre intended to kill Harry while he was assaulting her.
After McIntyre pleaded guilty, CBC News spoke with Harry's sister and parents.
"These are emotions that no one understands and no one could prepare for," Sarah-Lisa Harry said at the time.
With her parents at her side later in the day, Sarah-Lisa said her family was relieved that McIntyre had admitted to what he had done. She said it would allow her family to come together and grieve properly.
The family's pain was shared in Sarah-Lisa's victim-impact statement during the sentencing hearing on Monday. She said she misses her sister's "beautiful soul, her smile, her laugh — the way she would just dance out of nowhere."
Among those left behind is Rebekah Harry's young son, from a previous relationship.
Sarah-Lisa has said her nephew is doing well, with both a tight-knit family and close friends supporting him, but on Monday she shared a sad memory of seeing her sister in the hospital, clinging to life.
She recalled the boy "taking my sister's lifeless hand as she lay there, all hooked up to machines, and placing it on his back and the other into his hand as he cried and cried and cried."
It's a memory, she said, that makes her heart ache — something she will never forget.
Ruth Harry, another sister, said "losing Rebekah has been the hardest thing I've ever endured in my life. Going from talking to someone five times a day to never is something I cannot get used to."
She said when feeling this low, she would normally reach out to Rebekah for support. But as shattered as she feels, she added, she has to be strong for her nephew — "a precious boy who just wants his mommy."
Rebekah Harry's brother, Teddy Frenette, has described his sister as "the one with the big smile. She touched so many people's souls."
