Man sentenced to 14 years for involuntary manslaughter in 2021 death of Rebekah Love Harry

The man who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 death of Rebekah Love Harry has been sentenced to 14 years behind bars less time served.

Brandon McIntyre, Harry’s boyfriend at the time, was charged with second-degree murder in the 29-year-old mother’s death.

McIntyre, 35, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter last month, avoiding a trial.

Harry was found unconscious by police at a LaSalle apartment on March 20, 2021. She was rushed to hospital, where she died three days later.

Rebekah Harry. (Photo via Facebook)

Her family, in court Tuesday to speak at the sentencing, spoke to reporters afterwards.

“Emotionally and going through it, it brought back a lot of emotions that we tried to bury or tried to understand and buried them, because it was to hard to address them,” said Sarah-Lisa Harry, Rebekah’s sister. “Bringing them up we did know it’s important to let the court justice know what we live everyday and how it’s affected us as a family, individually. So going through that today was very very hard, a lot of emotions. A lot of emotions that were revisited. For everyone it was very, very hard.”

According to the pathologist, Harry’s death was caused by at least one blow, but “more likely” several blows to the head.

“The evidence showed that the man certainly had the intention to cause injury to the woman, but not the intention to cause death,” Crown prosecutor Jasmine Guillaume said in April.

Today added that, “What we submitted to the court was at the highest range of the sentences that were imposed in such matter, and I’m talking about specifically conjugal violence crime and in this case what we considered as factors that were important were that no weapon was used – although it was a violent attack on the victim and this is why we suggested a sentence that was on the highest range on sentences that are usually imposed on crimes where the accused used a weapon on the victim.”

“I do believe his remorse [is] really sincere. Obviously what happened is a terrible tragedy for everybody involved,” said defence lawyer Kaven Morasse about McIntyre. “For him today hearing all the family members coming in and talking about their grief, it really got to him. This is when he kind of broke out and really expressed his remorse.”

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“Rebekah Love is love. She really was. […] She was just the person that brought everybody together and made everybody have fun. She didn’t judge nobody, she loved everybody,” said Rebekah’s brother Terry Frenette. “She was just joy.”

RELATED: Family of Rebekah Harry raising awareness about violence against women

Hundreds marched in Harry’s memory in Montreal in the days that followed her death, which came during a wave of femicides in Quebec involving partners or ex-partners.

Harry was the youngest of a family of six children and a dozen grandchildren.

WATCH: Remembering Rebekah Harry two years after her killing

Her family described her as a person with a big heart who brought joy to her family and friends and loved her young son.

“She had a personality, was so bubbly,” her sister Sarah-Lisa Harry told CityNews in April. “She had us always laughing, her friends. Her and her son had an incredible best friend relationship. They danced together. They sang together. They cooked together. They had an Instagram page where they used to do cooking together, different recipes.

“She loved to cook. She loved to eat. She loved to travel. She was very open minded. She had the biggest heart. And everyone felt that wherever she was, you can feel it. She made everyone feel comfortable. She just had such a beautiful laugh and her smile. You can never forget it.”

—With files from Brittany Henriques