EDMONTON, Alberta, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A Canadian man was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for killing and dismembering his wife.
Tesfai Negasi will have to serve at least 17 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The 56-year-old Edmonton man was convicted of second-degree murder and a related charge in June for killing his 46-year-old wife Selmawit July 5, 2009, and cutting her body into 10 pieces he put in plastic bags that were found in his car.
Selmawit Negasi was getting ready to divorce her husband when she was slain. Her cause of death was not determined.
The couple had four daughters.
Tesfai Negasi sat calmly as Judge Janice Topolniski announced the sentence, calling the slaying a "brutal crime that's the most reprehensible and extreme form of domestic violence," The Edmonton Journal reported. While his slain wife's family and friends filled several rows in the courtroom, he appeared to have no supporters in attendance.
