Mourners attend a candlelight vigil for Jasmine Lovett and Aliyah Sanderson in Calgary on May 12, 2019. The man convicted of killing the woman and her young daughter and buried them in a shallow grave west of Calgary is scheduled to be sentenced this afternoon. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
CALGARY – A man who killed a woman and her young daughter and buried them in a shallow grave west of Calgary is scheduled to be sentenced this afternoon.
Robert Leeming, who is 37, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Jasmine Lovett, but not guilty in the death of 22-month-old Aliyah Sanderson.
He was convicted earlier this year of second-degree murder in the child’s death.
Leeming must serve an automatic life sentence for the second-degree murder convictions, but a Court of King’s Bench justice will decide when he will be eligible to apply for parole.
Family members have told court they have struggled with fear and pain since their loved ones were killed.
The mother and daughter were found in a shallow grave in Kananaskis Country, west of Calgary, in May 2019, after they had been missing for weeks.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2022