Teen sentenced as adult, co-accused given maximum youth sentence in Winnipeg park killing

A Winnipeg Police Service forensics unit investigates an incident in a parking lot off Conservatory Drive in Assiniboine Park near Corydon Avenue on Feb. 26, 2022. (Daniel Timmerman/ CTV News Winnipeg)

WARNING: The details in this article may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.

Two teens have been sentenced for the murder of Paul Enns, one as an adult and the other as a youth.

Enns, a 43-year-old man from Winnipeg, was found dead inside his car during the early morning hours of Feb. 26, 2022, in an Assiniboine Park parking lot.

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On Wednesday, the two youth charged in his death—a female from Stonewall and a male from Warren, aged 15 and 17 at the time of the killing—learned their sentences.

The co-accused had previously each pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Vic Toews said a sentence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act would not be long enough to hold the male accountable for his actions.

Justice Toews said the evidence was clear that the male was the leader in the plan to lure the victim to a park and rob him.

“Together with the co-accused, he planned the robbery, and he had the foresight to arm himself. He made the conscious decision to assault the victim, and he carried out that plan with brutal efficiency,” Toews said in his sentencing decision.

He added that the circumstances of the robbery and murder confirm that the male had the moral capacity of an adult at the time because it was planned over an extended period.

“The possession of weapons demonstrates that [the male] understood the potential consequences of the decision to rob the victim,” Toews said.

The male was sentenced to life in prison and will be eligible for parole after seven years because he is a youth being sentenced as an adult.

The co-accused in the case, a teenage girl, was also sentenced Wednesday. She was given the maximum allowable sentence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for the crime of second-degree murder. She received a four-year sentence in secure custody followed by a three-year period of conditional supervision. 

“It is clear from the evidence that she was an active participant who apparently had no regret about her participation in the murder until she was apprehended,”  Justice Toews said, adding to some extent she was a follower in the crime.

Toews said the girl armed herself with a sharpened screwdriver, initiated the violence, and stabbed the victim three times before the co-accused joined in with a baseball bat, bludgeoning the victim to death.

“While it appears from the autopsy that the stab wounds were not the cause of death, her apparent willingness to use a weapon in this fashion is very disconcerting,” Toews said.

The female accused will be back in court for annual reviews where the judge could adjust her sentence to a less-stringent form of custody.   

The identities of the two accused are protected by a publication ban.