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Wettlaufer Sentenced to Life in Prison

Elizabeth Wettlaufer will serve 8 concurrent life sentences without parole eligibility for at least 25 years.

WOODSTOCK - Elizabeth Wettlaufer has been sentenced to 8 concurrent life terms without eligibility for parole for 25 years for killing 8 people over a 9 year period in Woodstock and London. 

Shortly after her sentencing the Judge Bruce Thomas stated that it's unlikely the former Woodstock nurse will ever get parole in the future due to the heinous nature of her crimes. The Judge called Wettlaufer not an angel of mercy but the shadow of death that passed over them on the nursing shift she supervised.

Before confessing Wettlaufer was working with children and working with insulin. She quit her job because she didn't trust herself not to harm the children. Wettlaufer then checked herself into a mental institution where she confessed her murders. Judge Thomas is convinced that Wettlaufer would have gotten away with her crimes had she not confessed. She has expressed remorse.

Wettlaufer did speak when she was given a chance and apologized to the victims. She only spoke briefly. 

The court room also heard multiple victim impact statements today. Susan Horvath, the daughter of Arpad Horvath explains why she chose not to speak in the courtroom.

"I couldn't go up because I think I would have lost my temper and I don't know how I would of reacted because she was sitting so close by, so I decided not to read my statement." 

Wettlaufer, a former Woodstock nurse plead guilty to eight counts of first degree murder, four counts of attempted murder, and two counts of aggravated assault on June 1st. 

Shannon Emmerton the granddaughter of Gladys Millard speaks with the media after the Elizabeth Wettlaufer sentencing hearing today. She is calling for a public inquiry.

"Ms Wettlaufer stated that all she had to do was walk into the medication room at Carrassant Care, open up the fridge and grab huge quantities of insulin. What I am asking for is the Ministry of Long Term Care to act. There is a call for a public inquiry into what happened. From my perspective a public inquiry is going to take a long time and spend a lot of taxpayer dollars, meanwhile there is an ongoing concern that something else is going to happen because insulin is not a controlled substance in long term care facilities." 

She says if insulin was treated the same way as opioids, then it wouldn't of been possible for Wettlaufer to murder her victims the way she did. 

The morning was filled with victim impact statements. 28 victim impact statements were filed to the court and they were all very emotional. You can follow along the Heart FM twitter feed to get a sense of what the victims had to say this morning.  

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