The death of Brenda Ware following a violent confrontation at her rural residence in May 2021 has left deep and lasting grief for her family and friends, her parents told a Court of King’s Bench justice.
Ware died following a physical altercation with Philip Jeffrey Toner, who has been convicted of aggravated assault and arson in the case. On Nov. 25 he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Ware’s parents provided victim impact statements to the court, which were read out during Toner’s sentencing.
“Unanswered questions haunt me,” Karla Ware, Brenda’s mother, said in part in her statement. “I feel like I’m overloaded. Headaches, sadness, despair and loneliness have set in. I miss my daughter so much. My heart is broken and my world is upside down. Our future with her is gone forever."
In his victim impact statement, Don Ware, Brenda’s father, said, in part, “My heart breaks, tears always fill my eyes. It’s hard to get out of bed and I feel like I’m in limbo. Brenda is gone forever, never to come home.
“I’ve never cried so much in my life. My heart hurts so much. I’m broken. Our lives are changed. I feel confused, anger, loneliness, numb, shocked, sad, lost and empty.
“I have lost my little bundle of joy. Brenda has been taken from me way too soon and I’m still in shock. My little helper around the farm is gone. I’m lost and lonely. It is very hard to sleep without thinking about my little one. My days are long and my nights longer.”
Toner was given five years on the aggregated assault charge and three years on the arson charge. He was given credit for time served in pre-trial custody totalling 1,941 days.
In agree statement of facts accepted by the Justice Glen Poelman on Nov. 25, Toner admitted that he assaulted Ware at her Mountain View County residence on the night of May 4-5, 2021.
“In the early morning hours, Toner physically assaulted Ware within her residence ultimately causing her to go unconscious,” the statement reads. “Toner did not make any attempt to get her medical assistance and did not call anyone else for help.
"On May 5, 2021, when Toner awoke, he determined that Ware was not moving. He attempted chest compressions on her. However, upon confirming she was deceased, he loaded her body into the back of her Jeep.
“Toner then attempted to burn down Ware’s house by starting multiple fires at various locations in the house.”
Her body was recovered in a wooded area in the Kooteney National Park in B.C. on May 7, 2021 and Toner was arrested and charged on May 11.
During the Nov. 25 court session, Michelle Fahey, a longtime friend of the Ware family, also provided a victim impact statement that was read out in court.
“Not only did Brenda lose her life through these events on that day, but so did my friends Don and Karla,” Fahey said in part in the statement. “It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever had to witness seeing my friend and her husband destroyed by this turn of events . . . to witness the suffering they have gone through and continue to go through each and every day.
“What this man Philip Toner has done to their daughter he has done to them. They continue in their hell every single day. In my humble opinion, three people died that day.”
In passing sentence on Toner, Justice Poelman said aggravating factors in the case included Toner’s extensive criminal record, including several assault convictions, the fact he was in an intimate relationship with Ware, the fact he attempted to burn down the house to hide evidence, and the fact he hid her body in the woods.
“Mr. Toner’s offences were committed as part of a tragic episode,” said Poelman. “Legally he cannot be held accountable for the death of Ms. Ware, the worst part of the episode, but he bears a heavy moral culpability for aggravated assault that he committed on her and torching the house in which she lived.
“All of this is aggravated by his callous, selfish treatment of her remains and the fact that he was interfering with the ability to determine what had occurred to her.”
Toner’s guilty pleas to the aggravated assault and arson charges were mitigating factors in sentencing, the justice said.
Toner originally faced a charge of second-degree murder in Ware’s death, but that charge was later withdrawn after the medical examiner could not determine the cause of her death.
As well as the prison sentence, Toner was also handed a life-time weapons prohibition and ordered to provide a DNA sample.