The house arrest sentence of an elderly man who pleaded guilty to dismembering his son's spouse has been overturned after a Canadian court called the judge's ruling "unfit."
The Alberta Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that Justice John Little's two-year conditional sentence on the man was "disproportionally lenient." The man was instead sentenced to three years in prison, as reported by the Edmonton Journal.
"The sentence over-emphasized the respondent's personal circumstances, and the effect that any sentence would have on him," Justices Jack Watson, Frans Slater and Alice Wolley wrote in a decision obtained by the Journal.
"Further, proper weight was not given to the element of obstruction of justice inherent in the offense. The sentence imposed was demonstrably unfit because it was disproportionally lenient given the respondent's culpability and the harm caused by the offense."
Joseph Donald Skelly, 69, was sentenced to two years of house arrest in March after pleading guilty to interfering with human remains after his son killed her. The maximum sentence for the offense was five years, but Little decided that jail time would not serve a purpose after reading several reference letters, Global News previously reported.
On July 15, 2023, Skelly's son Kenneth reportedly came to his father asking him to help hide the remains of Treasa Lynn Oberly, his son's common-law spouse, after he killed her. The purpose was that her body could not be identified, as reported by Sylvan Lake News.
Joseph Skelly, a retired butcher, allegedly dismembered Oberly's body and burned her remains before discarding the ashes in a recycling bin, according to Global News. The rest of her remains were driven to a rural property before he allegedly confessed to police.
Kenneth Skelly, on his end, has been charged with second-degree murder. His trial is scheduled for early 2025.
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