The man convicted of murdering Mimi Khonsari in Barrie 10 years ago has been sentenced.
And the Khonsari family was in the Toronto courtroom where it happened this morning, there to hear the outcome of a long and difficult legal proceeding.
Today marked the second time Claire Spiers has been sentenced for Khonari's murder, but unlike the first time there will be no appeal. So, for the Khonsari family a decade-long search for justice has come to an end.
Spiers was sentenced to life in jail with no chance of parole for 17 years. He has been in custody since his arrest nearly a decade ago, so the earliest he will be eligible for parole will be in December 2021.
Det. Insp. Paul McCrickard is with the OPP and has been working on the Khonsari case.
“It's been a long process and we're just happy for the family that they do not have to go through another trial,” he tells CTV News.
During the trial, court heard that in May 2004 Mimi Khonsari and her then 11-month-old granddaughter were kidnapped from Khonsari's Barrie home by Spiers, who was a door-to-door salesman.
They were driven out in Khonsari's car to a secluded area in Oro-Medonte. Khonsari was strangled and stabbed several times, and her body was left in a field. Court also heard that Spiers then drove the car back to Barrie and left it in a parking lot by the Kozlov Centre mall with the baby unharmed inside.
When sentencing Spiers, the judge said of the crime, “This was a brutal and senseless crime arising from an entirely random contact.”
“The guilty plea does not answer all the questions in this case” when it comes to the motive, the judge said, but it “brings finality to this matter.”
Khonsari's son Navid broke down in court today as he gave his victim impact statement. He told the court: “Had it not been for the monstrous act of one person my mother would be alive today, she would have met my wife and had the chance to embrace and kiss my two daughters, as a doting grandmother should.”
The Crown also read a statement from Khonsari's other son Ali: “I still look around in disbelief that she is gone. The basic goodness that I believe existed in all people could not exist if something like this could happen to Mimi.”
Spiers was first convicted in 2008 for first-degree murder but the case was thrown out by the court of appeal. He also has a lengthy record with 34 convictions in both Canada and the US including rape, robbery, and aggravated assault prior to Khonsari’s murder.
Before handing down the sentence, the judge asked Spiers if he had anything to say.
Spiers declined.
