SYDNEY, N.S. — A 51-year-old Glace Bay man was sentenced Tuesday to a 15-year federal jail sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of manslaughter in connection with the 2006 death of an 82-year-old war veteran.
Raymond Glenn Farrow admitted to stabbing Harold (Buster) Slaunwhite of Dominion inside his Brook Street home in September 2006.
An autopsy concluded there were over 60 separate injuries to Slaunwhite’s body, including what were considered to be defensive wounds on the victim’s hands.
As a result of his injuries, Slaunwhite bled to death. His body, discovered by his adult daughter, was found on the bedroom floor. His pyjamas were described as blood-soaked and there was blood spatter on the walls, floor and surrounding items in the room.
A bloodied steak knife blade was found under his body.
Defence lawyer Darlene MacRury said both men knew each other and that Farrow was welcomed into the home the day he visited.
The conversation turned sour when Slaunwhite, whose wife had died only four months prior, accused Farrow of stealing money.
After repeatedly stabbing Slaunwhite, Farrow left the home with $700 he had taken from the victim. Days later he entered a detox program.
It would take police investigators until 2016 to file charges in the case, having interviewed more than 300 people and received DNA from 110 of those, including Farrow, who voluntarily gave police a sample.
Farrow’s DNA was on the knife blade found under Slaunwhite’s body.
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MacRury told the court that her client developed an opiate addiction after a workplace accident in the early 1990s. Farrow became heavily addicted to pain medications OxyContin and Percocet.
Despite beating back his opiate addiction, Farrow’s list of health ailments is long, ranging from diabetes to high blood pressure to kidney dialysis. He is also a double leg amputee, having lost one leg in a motorcycle accident the other as a result of diabetes.
The sentence was a joint recommendation by MacRury and Crown prosecutor Steve Melnick.
Slaunwhite’s grandson, Gerald Slaunwhite, told the court, in reading a victim impact statement, that his grandfather should have been able to live his twilight years in peace. He said the last time he saw his grandfather was at his grandmother’s funeral only months prior.
“I hope you will always remember the pain you have caused,” he said, in directing his comment to Farrow.
In addition to the jail sentence, Farrow is to submit a DNA sample to the national registry and is banned from possessing firearms for life.
