Overview
- De Zoysa admitted to four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and one count of attempted murder in an Ottawa court on Thursday.
- Automatic life sentences apply to the first-degree murders with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
- Justice Kevin Phillips will determine parole ineligibility periods for the second-degree murder convictions after submissions from the Crown and defence.
- The victims were four children, their mother, and a family friend, while the father, Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, survived with serious injuries.
- The Sri Lankan national, then 20 and living as a basement tenant in the family’s Barrhaven home, was arrested at the scene of the March 6, 2024 stabbings on Berrigan Drive, and the court is expected to hear details of the attack and victim impact statements next.