Judge: 'You planned and you acted on the murder', Townsend gets life in prison

Townsend gets life, no chance for parole until 2038 Convicted murderer Johnathan Townsend has been sentenced to life behind bars. Jairus Patterson reports

Convicted murderer Johnathan Townsend has been sentenced to life behind bars.

In a hearing on Thursday, a judge sentenced the 21-year-old to life in prison, with no chance of parole until 2038, for the murder of Coreille Bonhomme.

When delivering the reasons for his verdict, Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio said: “You planned the murder, you deliberated the murder, and you acted on the murder. Now, you will have life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.”

“I want to apologize for what happened," said Townsend, when asked by Justice Varpio if he wanted to say anything to the court.

"Not sure if I should say more or not, I’ll leave it at that then."

In April, a jury found Townsend guilty of first degree murder. Bonhomme was stabbed to death at an apartment building on Lake Street, back in August 2013.

During the trial, it was revealed that Townsend found Bonhomme, who was a dancer at a local club, sleeping in his apartment building and he decided to take her in.

Over the course of Bonhomme's stay there, Townsend became offended by her; especially when she refused to eat a dinner he prepared for her.

Townsend has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and during the trial, his lawyer argued the murder was not pre-meditated.

Evidence presented by the crown included Townsend’s internet search history; featuring 36,000 Skype messages he sent to an online friend.

A technology expert with the Sault Police Service testified that in messages leading up to the murder, Townsend talked about wanting to kill Bonhomme.

Townsend mentioned wanting to poison her and then grind up her body. He also searched for the best meat grinder on Google.

He told an online friend that he was scared of the victim, and he didn't want her to stay at his place anymore.

On the day of the murder, Townsend sent a message to a friend stating he felt disrespected by the victim for not eating food he made for her. He went on to say, he was going to kill her and spill her blood all over bed.

“Difficult, it was a hard time, difficult to listen to these kinds of things. It's difficult to live with that,” Vanessa Eubanks, Bonhomme sister, told CTV’s Jairus Patterson, back in April.