WARNING: The following story contains disturbing, graphic details. Readers are advised to use discretion.
An Ontario man guilty of killing and decapitating his mother in March 2022 has been sentenced to life in prison with a period of parole ineligibility of 13 years.
Dallas Ly, the 23-year-old Toronto man who admitted to stabbing Tien Ly, 50, to death in the east-end apartment they shared – before severing her head and trying to dispose of her remains – was in court Wednesday to receive his sentence.
The judge in the case also issued a DNA order, and a life-time weapons ban for Dallas, while recommending he receives a psychiatric assessment, and referral to psychiatric programs while in prison.
Dallas was found guilty of second-degree murder in May following a month-long trial in which court heard what unfolded before March 28, 2022 – the day Tien’s severed head and decapitated body were found in a garbage bag.
Dallas, who was 21 at the time, was arrested a few days later at the Eaton’s Centre after unsuccessfully trying to flee the country.
On March 27 that year, Dallas repeatedly stabbed his mother in their Carlaw Avenue home after Tien, a nail salon owner, returned from work.
During the trial, Dallas testified he told his mother he was moving out and was going to live with his aunt. When his mother became enraged and began screaming at him, threatening to kill him and his aunt before hitting him, Dallas said he reacted by getting a knife and swinging it at her.
A pathologist testified that Tien died of multiple stab wounds, suffering 27 in all.
Testifying he had suffered years of physical and mental abuse at the hands of his mother, he believed she was actually going to carry out her threats.
After striking her with the knife in her neck and realizing he had killed her, at first, he couldn’t believe what he had done and later panicked, decapitated her, put her head and body in garbage bags and used a shopping buggy to take them to Tommy Thompson Park, which he had searched online.
As he was pushing the cart down Eastern Avenue, he said he hit a curb and the body began to come out of the bag, so he abandoned his plan and left the garbage bags on the side of the road before running back home.
A forensic psychiatrist for the defence who assessed Dallas testified he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder at the time, from the ongoing abuse, and was defending himself from what he thought were real threats. However, the Crown argued he had the intent to kill his mother as a form of revenge.
The jury convicted Dallas of second-degree murder after just a day of deliberations, rejecting the defence argument that he was provoked.
A second-degree murder conviction is an automatic life sentence, but the judge must decide on a period of parole ineligibility between 10 and 25 years.
Crown attorney Jay Spare argued on May 31 that 15 years would be appropriate, given the victim was Dallas’ mom and was brutally, decapitated, her remains dumped and her cash taken.
Dallas’s lawyer, Jessyca Greenwood, argued a more appropriate period of parole ineligibility would be between 10 and 12 years.
On May 31, Dallas issued an apology.
“I never found the opportunity to say sorry during my testimony,” Dallas said in a soft-spoken voice.
“I want to apologize for the thing that I’ve done. I know I’m not the type of person to lose control. I understand it was out of character for me. I take responsibility for my weaknesses.”
More to come.
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