A New Brunswick man who admitted to killing his mother and setting her home on fire has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 16 years.
The remains of 52-year-old Phyllis Roy were found in the charred rubble of her home north of Hartland, N.B. on March 2, 2015.
Her son, Ryan Ernest Roy, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and arson.
He pleaded guilty to arson and a lesser charge of second-degree murder in November.
A spokesperson with the Court of Queen's Bench in Woodstock says Roy, who was sentenced Friday, was also given an eight-year concurrent sentence for arson.
He has also been ordered to provide a DNA sample and is prohibited from owning firearms for 10 years.
In a statement, the Roy family says they can put the circumstances surrounding Phyllis's death behind them, now that the court process has concluded:
Anyone who met Phyllis knows that she touched the lives of everyone who knew her. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter and friend. Her passing has been very difficult for our family and, over the past several months, we have been adjusting to life without her.
With the court process now concluded, we can put the tragic circumstances surrounding Phyllis’s death behind us and move forward by focusing on who Phyllis was and not on how she died. As a family, we are committed to honouring her life by living each day with kind and open hearts.
Our Family, Friends and Members of the community continue to extend their kindness, thoughts and prayers and we want them to know how much we appreciate everything they have done. We want to, once again, thank the members of the RCMP involved for their professionalism and compassion throughout their investigation. We also want to thank members of the media who have respected our request for privacy. We understand that journalists have a job to do and appreciate that they have recognized the impact of the tragedy on the family and it is something we’re simply not comfortable in reliving through media. Thank you for your compassion in this regard.
There’s a saying that time heals all wounds. We all hope that’s true and have chosen to focus on positive memories moving forward. We will always miss Phyllis’s smile and loving spirit and are grateful for the time we had with her. We will honour her memory by remembering her love and commitment to her family and we’ll strive, every day, to live by her example.
