A Calgary man was sentenced to 18 months in jail after admitting to cutting up a woman’s body and scattering the parts.
Parts of Joey English, 25, were found in a Crescent Heights park in June of 2016 and Joshua Weise, 41, was identified by police as a suspect.
The investigation revealed that Weise was in a relationship with English and had left her at a home in Highland Park to go to a drug deal. He said he found her dead of a drug overdose when he returned, panicked and decided to dispose of the body rather than call police.
Outside court, her mother expressed the greif she and her family must live with.
“Today I still can’t bury my daughter in full, but her body was only gifted to her, her spirit is at home, it is her children who are the ones who are suffering,” said Stephanie English.
Judge Mike Dinkel handed Weise an 18 month sentence less time served followed by three years of probation with a focus on counselling and rehabilitation for drug use.
"It is selfish, it is savage, it is heinous," Judge Dinkel said in court. "His actions prevented family members from grieving."
The defense had asked for probation only, saying Weise did not have a violent past, but the crown had asked for the maximum sentence of two years in jail, saying that Weise showed no remorse for the crime and even wrote a book while in custody about how to dismember a body.
“The families I’m sure will be upset with how low the sentence is, so what makes it difficult are the limits that are placed on the judges and the crown prosecutors in terms of what we can ask for,” said Ken McCafferey, Crown prosecutor.
While English's mother grieves, she also reached out to people who might be in difficult situations.
“I just want to make an awareness out there for all women and men, especially the ones that suffer with mental illness and addictions, get help, it’s not too late,” she said.
After the grisly discovery last year, police searched a landfill for more of Joey English’s remains, but some have never been found.
