'My brother never got a chance,' sister of crossbow shooting victim says

Linda Leinweber says the pain of losing her brother, Michael Gibbon, after he was shot with a crossbow in October 2015 is indescribable.

On Thursday in a Kitchener courthouse, Eric Amaral pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Gibbon's death on Oct. 5, 2015. He also pleaded guilty to shooting a police officer with a BB gun.He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years.

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"I'll never get over the loss of my precious and beloved brother," Leinweber said in her victim impact statement Thursday morning, which was read out in court by the Crown attorney.

"I will never, ever forgive you for murdering Michael and I never want to hear you say you are sorry."

Amaral admitted he went to a wooded area in the Breithaupt neighbourhood of Kitchener to experiment with his crossbow, but it was too dark. As he exited the bush, he saw Gibbon walking on the street. He knelt down, took aim and fired the crossbow at Gibbon.

Amaral knew he had hit Gibbon, but left the area without trying to help.

Gibbon was found on the front lawn of a home at 7 a.m. He died in the hospital at 8 a.m.

'My heart will never mend'

In her victim impact statement, Leinweber spoke directly to Amaral, who began to cry in the prisoner's box as the statement was read.

"You, Eric Amaral, accomplished your goal and my brother never got a chance," Leinweber wrote.

"I doubt that anyone who is capable of committing such a cold-blooded act of aggression towards another human being can possibly appreciate or understand the pain, the devastation or the absolute heartbreak that you have inflicted upon me and my family."

Leinweber said her brother was her best friend and someone she relied on for an honest opinion. He was a kind, considerate and loving brother and she is haunted by how afraid he must have been in his last moments.

"My heart will never mend," Leinweber wrote.

Brother's death 'destroyed our family'

Another sister, PatBoxwell, told the courtAmaralrobbed her brother of his retirement from 30 years at Gore Mutal Insurance in Cambridge, "for which he'd been eagerly planning and saving."

She said the family grew up on Guelph Street near where Gibbon died, and she remembers riding their bike around the neighbourhood and taking "little Mikey as a small child over to play on the swings and slides."

Sandra Watts, another sister, said Gibbon's death "destroyed our family."

"At night, when I go to bed and try to fall asleep, I can't get it out of my mind. What an awful way for my brother to die," she said. "Why would you murder a man, our Mike, someone you did not even know?It makes me ill just looking at you."

Prepared statement

Sandra Street,Leinweber's step-daughter, read a prepared family statement to reporters outside the courthouse Thursday afternoon.

"Eventually Eric Amaral will be released from prison and will be free to enjoy the rest of his life," Street said. "But Michael will never have that opportunity."

She added her family will never feel a sense of closure.

"For us, there will only be this ongoing feeling of sorrow and profound sense of loss, which will be with us for the remaining years of our lives."