Leo Harry Pantherbone has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the death of his girlfriend in 2015.
With credit for time served, he has nine years and 11 months to go.
Janel Squirrel, 26, was found dead in the basement of a rooming house in the northeast Calgary neighbourhood of Whitehorn in November of 2015.
Pantherbone, 45, was charged with manslaughter in the case.
Squirrel’s family members delivered tearful victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing, saying the mother of three was pulling her life together when Pantherbone beat her to death that day.
"Because of a senseless act, her children will not have a mother," said Thomas Squirrel, Janel's father. "Alcohol is no excuse for a person's misdeeds."
"Janel was the love of my life and the mother of my children," said Jonas Alexson, Janel's common-law partner. "There are no words to explain how me and my children feel."
Michelle Robinson, a friend of the family, performed the 'Strong Woman’ song as part of her statement in court, saying songs heal.
Pantherbone admitted to beating and strangling Squirrel to death while he was drunk. At the hearing, he tearfully asked for forgiveness and apologized to the family.
