Tobias Sylvester
24-year-old Canadian actor, Ryan Grantham has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his mother, Barbara Waite.
Ryan Grantham Gets Life In Prison For Killing Mother
The young actor, who played the role of ‘Jeffery Augustine’ in the teen drama ‘Riverdale’, was sentenced at the British Columbia supreme court in Vancouver on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
In March 2020 — when Grantham was aged 21 — the actor killed his mother by shooting her in the back of her head while playing the piano at their home, north of Vancouver.
Moments after the killing, the actor filmed his mother’s body while saying: “I shot her in the back of the head. In the moments after, she would have known it was me.”
Prosecutors said Grantham had also plotted to kill Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, as he was heading to Rideau Cottage where Trudeau lived with his family.
It was gathered that after drinking beer and smoking marijuana for hours following the killing of his mother, Grantham loaded his car with three guns, ammunition, and 12 Molotov cocktails, as well as camping supplies and was heading the directions to Trudeau’s Rideau Cottage residence.
He drove roughly 200 kilometres east to the town of Hope, before turning around and driving to a Vancouver police station, where he told an officer: “I killed my mother.”
Grantham has been in custody for the past two and a half years and has been participating in a mental health program since his arrest by law enforcement officials in Vancouver.
During the trial, the actor’s lawyers argued he had been struggling with anxiety and clinical depression and had expressed a desire to kill himself and harm others in the months leading up to him killing his mother.
Grantham was sentenced to life in prison for a second-degree murder conviction, and Justice Kathleen Ker ruled he must serve 14 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
The was made known by Chris Johnson of Vancouver legal firm Johnson Doyle Nelson & Anderson, who represented the young actor at his sentencing before the British Columbia Supreme Court on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.
Johnson said Grantham has been in prison since April 1, 2020 and during that period had been assessed by two court-appointed psychiatrists.
“The psychiatrists agreed that at the time of this horrendous event he (Grantham) was suffering from a major depressive disorder and a cannabis use disorder, among other things,” he said.
“At his sentencing, (Grantham) gave a speech to the judge indicating that he was going to dedicate the rest of his life to rehabilitating himself and helping other people. So he’s on the way to getting better.”
KanyiDaily recalls that Ghanaian actor, Chris Attoh was named as a suspect in the murder of his wife Bettie Jennifer, who was shot in the United States in 2019.
