HAY RIVER
Benedict Corrigal will be sentenced May 12 after he was convicted of second degree murder and manslaughter in the deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend.
Corrigal had been originally charged with two counts of first degree murder of Carol Buggins and her boyfriend Garfield McPherson on June 27, 2012 in Hay River.
The 55-year-old man appeared in front of Justice Louise Charbonneau in Yellowknife territorial court Feb. 23. Dressed in a buttoned shirt and khaki slacks, he was allowed to leave the prisoner's box to sit with his lawyer Peter Harte.
Corrigal had originally elected to be tried by judge and jury, but Harte said he had now pleaded guilty to both of the lesser charges. He listened as Marc Lecorre, the crown prosecutor in the case, read from an agreed statement of facts.
Lecorre said Corrigal had believed he had reconciled with his former girlfriend, but she had started dating McPherson.
"The accused does not recall, but accepts that during the evening of June 27 the accused was arguing with Ms. Buggins and Mr. McPherson at a party in McPherson's apartment in the Hay River highrise," Lecorre said. "During the argument the accused hit Mr. McPherson."
The crown prosecutor said Corrigal then said McPherson can have Buggins, made a derogatory remark about her and was then kicked out of the apartment.
After he left, Corrigal went to another unit in the same building and took a nap. The tenant of that unit observed Corrigal take a knife from the kitchen in that apartment.
At some point before midnight, Corrigal went back to McPherson's apartment, Lecorre said. He knocked on the door and Buggins answered. As soon as she opened the door, Corrigal stabbed her, inflicting a total of 25 wounds. The wounds cut major blood vessels, a lung and her airway, leading to bleeding and causing her death.
McPherson saw what was happening to Buggins and grabbed a knife from his kitchen to defend himself and Buggins from the accused. Corrigal then attacked McPherson, which led to his death.
Lecorre said Corrigal then ran into a corrections officer in the apartment elevator, told him that he'd just killed two people and proceeded to walk around Hay River for more than four hours telling several more people what he had done.
At 4 a.m. the accused went to the Hay River hospital, where he spoke to nurse Dale Snow. She observed he was intoxicated, had blood on his collar and a scratch on his hand. Corrigal told the nurse he had killed Buggins and McPherson by stabbing them, and she called the RCMP.
Corrigal was arrested just before 5 a.m. and gave a statement to police just before 9 a.m. that same day, confirming the events of the night before.
He told the RCMP he killed Buggins so that no one else could have her and that he killed McPherson because he got in the way.
In court there was no mention as to whether the corrections officer or anyone else who saw Corrigal after the attacks called police.
Victim impact statements are expected to be delivered at the sentencing hearing.
