Cindy Gladue was a mother of three when she died in June 2011. Photo: APTN file
Warning: This story contains disturbing details
The family of Cindy Gladue is hoping this is the end of an Ontario trucker’s attempts “to escape justice” after Alberta’s highest court rejected his latest appeal.
“All I ever wanted was to know he would not be able to hurt anyone else the way he hurt and killed my daughter,” said Gladue’s mother, Donna McLeod, in a statement sent to APTN News Monday.
“I hope he will now stop and let us move on.”
Bradley Barton, of Mississauga, was convicted in 2021 of manslaughter in the sex assault death of Gladue, a 36-year-old mother of three.
Gladue, who was Cree and Métis, bled to death from a wound to her vagina in an Edmonton hotel room after spending the night with Barton.
The family said the decision from the Alberta Court of Appeal was unanimous.
Read more: Family of Cindy Gladue says province has ‘misplaced’ her remains
Barton was found not guilty of first-degree murder at his initial trial in 2015. The Alberta Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal in 2017 and ordered another trial.
That decision “reminded the country (that) Cindy’s life mattered,” said the family’s statement. “She was valued. She was important. She was loved.
After more than a decade of court proceedings, McLeod said enough is enough.
“I just want her spirit to be able to rest. She deserves to rest.”
The family expressed sympathy for families in Winnipeg lobbying to have a landfill searched for the remains of two First Nations women.
“We know deeply the pain of not being able to lay a loved one rest after they’ve been torn from us too soon and not letting their spirits rest in the face of continued injustice,” the statement said.
This is a developing story.
