A B.C. man charged with murder in the death of a southern Alberta woman pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and arson as the more serious charge was withdrawn Tuesday.
Philip Toner, 44, was charged in the May 2021 death of Brenda Ware, 35, whose body was found northeast of Radium, B.C.
Toner, of Enderby, B.C., was accused of killing Ware in southern Alberta and then transporting her body to Highway 93 in Kootenay National Park.
Ware, who was dating Toner at the time, lived on a farm near Cremona, Alta., and worked as a hairstylist in Sundre.
Cause of death not conclusive
The plea, arranged between prosecutor Joe Mercier and defence lawyer Talia Magder, was accepted by Justice Glen Poelman.
None of the details of the crimes were outlined in court, but Mercier said Ware’s cause of death could not be undetermined, hence the withdrawn murder charge.
Opinions from two medical examiners “ascertained in preparation for trial that the cause of death could not be conclusively determined,” said Mercier.
“As a result of that, the Crown is pursuing aggravated assault and arson.”
‘I got in a fight with my friend’
Toner appeared in a Calgary courtroom on Tuesday afternoon with a shaved head and wearing a black track jacket.
He told the judge he wanted to take responsibility for his crimes.
“I just want resolution for our families,” he said. “I got in a fight with my friend.”
Magder expressed concerns with her client’s mental health, telling the judge that Toner believes there is a device inserted in his brain.
Toner asked to be held at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre instead of the Calgary Remand Centre, where he says “it’s been a constant struggle.”
Sex assault charges
Since being arrested in B.C. days after Ware’s body was discovered, Toner has accumulated three more charges.
He is charged with sexually assaulting a fellow inmate in Calgary and one in Edmonton as well.
He also faces an assault charge for allegedly attacking a guard in Calgary.
A sentencing hearing will take place later this year. It’s expected further details of the case will be read into the record at that point.
Fire at Ware’s home
On May 5, 2021, Ware’s parents learned she hadn’t shown up at work, so they drove to her home just outside Cremona, about 50 kilometres northwest of Calgary.
When they arrived, Ware’s front door was wide open, her house was on fire and she was missing.
The next day, Ware’s body was discovered.
At the time, police alleged Toner left Ware and her SUV along the side of the highway and then hitchhiked to the Okanagan region in B.C.
Toner convicted of raping teen
Six weeks before Ware’s death, Toner finished serving a five-year prison sentence for the 2015 drugging and raping a 15-year-old girl.
In prison, Toner was kicked out of a sex offender program after fighting with other inmates and staff.
Between June 2019 and December 2020, Toner was released from prison three times only to reoffend and have his release revoked each time because of issues with women, drugs and violence, according to a 2021 document from the Parole Board of Canada.
Ultimately, the board found Toner was too high risk to be in the community and revoked his statutory release.
In the months before Toner’s sentence expired, the parole board expressed grave concern about the risk the offender posed to women given his long criminal history of violence against girlfriends.