An Antiguan man has been sentenced to life in prison in Canada for the brutal murder of an elderly Toronto woman in August 2020.
Damien Allred, 43, known to many locally through his work as a tattoo artist, will not be eligible for parole for 17 years.
According to Canadian media, he showed no emotion as he was sentenced for second degree murder last Wednesday.
Allred’s family have reacted bitterly to the sentence, insisting he is innocent and accusing the Canadian judicial system of racism and discrimination.
Allred, who attended Antigua Grammar School for a while, is said to have severely beaten 75-year-old Teresa Santos who had disabilities and relied on a walker for mobility. She was attacked in her Shaw Street home and was found dead days later with wounds on her face – which was covered by a blood-stained pillow – broken teeth and shattered ribs from having her chest stomped on.
Allred became a suspect after investigators found a trail of bloody footprints consistent with a PUMA footprint on the pillow in Santos’ apartment leading down the hallway to where Allred lived with his wife and children.
Police also saw Allred on video surveillance wearing PUMA-style sandals and making numerous trips to the garbage bin where it’s believed he dumped his bloody clothes and Santos’ keys.
Allred’s DNA was also found under Santos’ fingernails.
It took a jury less than a day to convict him of second-degree murder last November.
The motive for the murder remains a mystery and Allred had no prior convictions. Superior Court Justice Suhail Akhtar noted that he had suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and had also been on medication for depression and anxiety.
The court previously heard Allred had been on a downward spiral after losing his construction job due to the Covid pandemic in the summer of 2020 and had stopped taking his anti-anxiety meds.
But Justice Akhtar said Allred had shown no remorse for his actions towards his “vulnerable” victim.
“She was attacked in her own home,” the judge said. “A place where she had every right to feel safe and secure.”
News that Allred had been charged with murder previously shocked Antiguans and Barbudans who told Observer in 2020 that they had known him as a “kind friend” and a “caring individual”.
A year before the horrific attack Allred had welcomed the birth of a baby daughter.