In death Ryan Lane became a hero to his daughter freeing her from the custody of his murderers, Lane’s sister told the court during her gripping victim impact statement on Friday.
Meagan Lane, admitted to having a “dark, black, seething hatred” for the murderers but then decided to “let the hatred go.”
“Now, instead, I savour my freedom … to have a family of my own, to travel and explore, even the simplest freedom to decide what I eat for breakfast and what time I go to bed is a freedom I have, for which these three do not,” she said.
“And so, in Ryan’s death, he has exposed these three people thus removing them from the life of an innocent young girl who deserved her father and for that her father is her hero.”
All three co-accused of Lane’s murder were found guilty of first-degree murder and each sentenced to 25 years in prison.
For Lorraine Jackson, Ryan’s mother, the pain of her son’s death is still raw.
“This will never be forgotten. It will never (be) over and the accused must think of what they did every day of their lives just as I think of my son and the pain overwhelms me,” she said in her victim impact statement.
“Spiritually, I am a sinner because I do not forgive them and I will never forgive them for what they did to us.”
A jury of eight women and four men found Sheena Cuthill, 30, Timothy Rempel, 30, and Wilhelm Rempel, 41, guilty of first degree murder and the Rempel brothers guilty of kidnapping – all in connection with the death of former Cochranite Ryan Lane.
Justice Alan Macleod sentenced the three to life in prison with no chance of parole.
“The most callous and cold-hearted act imaginable. (Lane’s daughter) will never get to know her dad … all these people who suffered are a result of your actions,” Macleod said on Friday before delivering the sentence.
Cuthill and Lane were in a custody battle when Lane went missing on Feb. 6, 2012. The two shared a daughter from 2007, who Lane had not seen in three years when Cuthill applied for full-custody in 2011.
Lane and Cuthill had started seeing a mediator when Lane had his first visit with his daughter since she was one-year-old on Feb. 6, 2012. That night, Lane met with the Rempel brothers after a call from a payphone and was driven out to a rural area outside of the city by Wilhelm to meet Timothy. Lane was never seen again.
“My experience was grief beyond explanation; I screamed, I collapsed, I wept, I begged the universe to wake me up from this nightmare. My heart was broken … I lost my mind, I lost too much weight, I lost four consecutive jobs, I couldn’t look at an open fire,” Meagan told the court.
The Calgary Police and RCMP found a burn barrel containing human remains four months after Lane went missing and Cuthill and the Rempel brothers were arrested in November 2012.
The six-week trial had the Crown show evidence for four weeks, which included text messages, taped phone calls, Lane’s DNA found in the Rempel brothers’ vehicles, and the burnt human remains from a burn barrel that also included Lane’s class ring and pieces of a cell phone. During the fifth week, the defence called Cuthill and Timothy to testify in their own defence.
It took the jury 19 hours to reach a decision.
Outside the courtroom on Friday, the Lane family thanked everyone for their hard work during the case
“I am so glad it is over,” Jackson said before discussing her visitation with Ryan’s daughter, her granddaughter.
“I just wanted to do that for Ryan and I see her about once a month and she is a beautiful, sweet, lovely child and I love being with her and she loves being with me. I see Ryan’s kindness and good nature … she is a pure soul.”
