Sentencing expected for boy who killed elderly woman in Pickering, Ontario

An Ontario Superior Court judge is expected to rule today on the sentence for a 15-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to murdering an elderly woman in Pickering, Ont., last year.

The boy apologized in court on Tuesday for repeatedly stabbing Eleanor Doney, an 83-year-old grandmother and retired kindergarten teacher, in an unprovoked attack as she was cleaning up her yard in May 2025.

The Crown and defence agreed that the maximum youth sentence of six years in custody and four years of conditional supervision would be appropriate in the case.

The Crown has argued that the boy has little insight into why he carried out the murder and the sentence must reflect the severity of the crime.

But the boy’s lawyer says giving him credit for the year he has spent in pre-trial custody would help his rehabilitation while still holding him accountable.

The boy, who was 14 at the time of the murder, cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2026.

The Canadian Press