One of three men accused in the fatal stabbing of a Barrie man three years ago is heading to prison to serve out the remaining 14 months of his five-year sentence.
Although Tyler Wren took no active part in stabbing 30-year-old Ryan Babineau in his Dunlop Street East apartment three years ago, Wren stood at the doorway during the attack, drove the two co-accused from the scene and helped them evade police initially, Justice Michelle Fuerst said during his sentencing on Thursday.
Wren, 28, cuffed in the prisoner’s box and wearing a red track suit, had earlier pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder.
Wren, Cory Greavette and Abad Abdi Shire were all initially charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 16, 2019, killing.
During Wren’s last court appearance, victim impact statements from Babineau’s mom, sister and stepfather were read into the court record, describing the impact his death has had on them and his six-year-old daughter. They said they collectively moved away from Barrie because his memory appeared everywhere, which was particularly difficult in his absence.
His stepfather described Babineau as a decent human being who had a drug addiction.
“They have suffered heartache and excruciating emotional pain,” the judge noted Thursday, accepting an agreed sentencing submission made by the defence and Crown of five years in prison.
Minus 1.5-to-one-day credit for the two years, six months and six days he has served in pre-trial custody, Wren is left with a sentence of 14 months and 22 days.
Wren drove a car he and the other two men had stolen and went to Babineau’s downtown apartment that November morning where Babineau was doing drugs with others.
Shire, court heard, had a grievance with Babineau, accusing him of disrespecting his family, and then repeatedly stabbed him with Greavette stabbing at the victim’s legs as Babineau begged for his life.
A pathologist later determined Babineau suffered 65 stab wounds.
The three accused men drove to a Grove Street home where they changed and Wren then drove them to a Huntsville hotel. The trio later split and were all eventually captured separately.
Greavette was arrested at a Barrie residence five days after the stabbing, while 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.
Wren has a long criminal record, including robbery and firearm offences, dating back to his teen years and has had a drug addiction also dating back to his teens.
Fuerst noted he’s been in a methadone program while in jail and has been working toward obtaining high school credits.
After serving his sentence, Wren said 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.
Greavette, 30, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on May 26 and is scheduled to return to court for sentencing Aug. 11.
Shire has a court date scheduled for June 28 and has a four-week trial scheduled to start Jan. 6, 2023.
