10-year sentence possible for boy who killed elderly woman in Pickering

The Crown is seeking a 10-year sentence for a 15-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in an unprovoked attack on an elderly woman in Pickering last year.

The court heard that the boy repeatedly stabbed Eleanor Doney, an 83-year-old grandmother and retired kindergarten teacher, as she was cleaning up her yard in May 2025 and left her for dead.

The boy, then 14, was arrested last year following an extensive manhunt by police, who issued a rare emergency alert as well as a shelter-in-place for the area around Fairport Road and Finch Avenue.

During the search, Durham Regional Police Chief Peter Moreira promised during a press conference that “every available resource” – including the force’s Air1 helicopter, drones, extra officers and specialized units – would be used to find Doney’s attacker after she was found on the ground outside a residence suffering from traumatic injuries.

She was transported to a Toronto trauma centre, where she was pronounced dead.

At the time, Moreira described the attack as “sadistic and cowardly.”

The teen was captured on home surveillance cameras dressed in a black trench coat, wearing a black mask and carrying a briefcase as he appeared to casually stroll through the neighbourhood after the stabbing.

The Crown says he should receive the maximum youth sentence of six years in custody and four years of conditional supervision in the community.

The prosecutor says the sentence must be high because the murder has shattered the community and Doney’s husband of 63 years, and the boy still has little insight into why he carried out the murder.

The boy’s defence attorney suggests that giving him credit for the time he has already served in a youth detention facility could help his rehabilitation.

The judge is expected to deliver the sentence in an Oshawa court on Wednesday.

The boy cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The Canadian Press

– With files from INsauga.com