Prompted by an “unknown vendetta," drugs formed the backdrop of a fatal stabbing in 2019 in downtown Barrie, a Barrie court heard Monday.
Tyler Wren was one of three men originally charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 16, 2019 stabbing of 30-year-old Ryan Babineau in a Dunlop Street East apartment.
Wren, now 28, with teardrop tattoos next to each eye and his hair cut short, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder.
The Crown and defence lawyers are suggesting a five-year sentence. Minus credit for the more than two years he has been in jail waiting for his day in court, he is expected to end up with a net sentence of just over a year.
Wren returns to court June 2 for sentencing.
Crown attorney Mike Flosman described the killing as a senseless loss of life that “seemed so petty” that resulted from an “unknown vendetta.”
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, he said Babineau had been doing drugs with others early that Saturday when Wren, Cory Greavette and Abad Abdi Shire showed up in a stolen Mazda.
Wren remained at the threshold while the two others went into the bedroom that was also referred to as "the vault." There, court heard, Shire accused Babineau of disrespecting his family, repeatedly stabbing him.
A pathologist later determined Babineau suffered 65 stab wounds.
Court heard Wren drove the two others to a Grove Street home where they changed out of their clothes and then onto a Huntsville motel.
Greavette was arrested at a Barrie residence five days after the stabbing. Shire had been incarcerated in northern Ontario on an unrelated matter and was arrested the following week.
Wren was taken into custody by South Simcoe police officers nearly two weeks after the stabbing when he was accused of evading a RIDE check near Yonge Street and Innisfil Beach Road in Innisfil.
Flosman read statements from the victim’s mother, sister and stepfather into the court record which described the impact the killing has had on them.
Babineau's sister said she felt immense heartache from his death, which she described as being similar to cutting off a limb that won’t heal or grow back.
“I’ve moved my family far away to feel safe again,” she said, adding Babineau’s six-year-old daughter will have to grow up without a father.
His mother, unable to be in the Barrie area without feeling the loss of her son, particularly the downtown area where he lived, also moved away.
“How on earth will I be able to explain to Ryan’s daughter… what took place?” read her statement.
The big Sunday family dinners, they said, are now over.
His stepfather said Babineau had an addiction and the family didn’t hold it against him.
“Once the drugs take hold…” his statement read.
Although Wren didn’t participate in the killing, Flosman said he should have known something was about to happen. Wren, he said, has a long criminal record, including robbery and firearm offences, dating back to his teen years.
But his guilty plea, the Crown added, saves the court from having to conduct a trial, which was scheduled for next January.
While Wren declined the judge’s offer to address the court, his lawyer, Mary Cremer, read out a letter on his behalf.
“No words can ever explain how sorry I truly am,” Cremer read. “Ryan was my friend and I hate that I didn’t help.”
She told the court Wren has spent two years, five months and 10 days in jail, 288 of those days in lockdown with only 30 minutes each day allowing him either take a shower or make a phone call.
After receiving 1.5 days’ credit for every day served, or 1,335 days, a five-year sentence would be reduced to just over a year.
“Sadly… drug use and drug addiction was replete throughout the course of this case,” Cremer said, adding that all those involved were either drug users or traffickers or both.
Wren was a drug user who graduated onto drug dealing, she said, having developed an addiction as a teenager. His record was related to his addiction and the drug underworld.
While in jail, he was able to enter into a methadone program and complete six of the 12 credits he needs to finish high school.
After serving his sentence, he intends to move in with his supportive girlfriend and start a new life in Kitchener where he would work with his biological father as an electrician’s assistant, finish high school and take college business classes.
Shire was to appear in court Tuesday while Greavette is scheduled for a May 26 appearance. Charges against the men were reduced to second-degree murder last year.
