A letter penned by convicted murderer Noah Bentley in the days following the stabbing death of his victim Brenda Woloski in 2016.

By Alex McCuaig

Brenda Woloski was killed in her home

Life sentence for man who killed city woman in 2016

Nov 6, 2020 | 12:04 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The man convicted last year of the 2016 second-degree murder of a city woman was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for at least 10 years Friday at Medicine Hat Court of Queen’s Bench.

Noah Harrison Bentley, 30, was arrested on Nov. 12, 2016 walking on Maple Avenue near Prince Street after telling officers that he had, “just killed a woman.”

Police soon located the body of Brenda Woloski, 53, in her nearby Third Street home dead from multiple stab wounds.

“Nothing can make the heartache go away, nothing can bring my mother back,” said Woloski’s daughter Jessica Donovan in her victim impact statement.

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Donovan added her soon-to-be-born daughter will, “never have the chance to meet her grandmother.”

In an agreed statement of facts, the court heard that Bentley first met Woloski at the Assiniboia Hotel the evening of the murder and the two went to the woman’s home.

The two were seen on security camera footage near Woloski’s home on the corner of Third Street and Maple avenue shortly after 7 p.m.

Just before 10 p.m., Bentley was seen by city police walking shirtless on Maple Avenue and Prince Street and observed blood on his face, glasses and chest.

At that time, Bentley repeatedly told police he had killed a woman, telling the arresting officer at one point, “I’m guilty. I killed a woman. I don’t deserve to be on the streets.” He went on to tell officers, “I took somebody’s mom away.”

During Bentley’s 2019 trial, he admitted to killing Woloski but argued he was not criminally responsible due to mental health issues.

Justice Glen Poelman rejected that argument and convicted Bentley of second-degree murder.

On Friday, Poelman called the actions a, “brutal throwing away of a life.”

The sentence comes by way of a joint submission from both the defence and Crown with the 10-year eligibility period for parole taking into account the four years Bentley has spent in pre-trial custody.