Calgary man who killed girlfriend to receive verdict in her daughter’s death
Published January 24, 2022 at 4:00 am
CALGARY — A Calgary man who admitted to murdering his former girlfriend but denied killing her daughter is scheduled to receive a verdict in the case today.
Robert Leeming, who is 36, pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial to the second-degree murder of Jasmine Lovett in 2019 but not guilty in the death of 22-month-old Aliyah Sanderson.
His lawyer said during closing arguments in November that there’s no evidence to prove Leeming was responsible for the girl’s death.
Leeming testified he was looking after Aliyah when she fell down some stairs, then he found her limp and unresponsive when he checked on her later.
He said he snapped when Lovett accused him of doing something to her child and struck her several times with a hammer before coming back with a rifle and shooting her in the head.
The bodies of the mother and child were found buried in a shallow grave in Kananaskis Country, west of Calgary, in May 2019 after they went missing weeks earlier.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2022.
The Canadian Press
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