Edmonton Journal has reported:

An Edmonton judge sentenced Joshua Fairley to eight-and-a-half years in prison for strangling his roommate, Austin Anderson, during a fight linked to an ongoing dispute over the cleanliness of their shared apartment. Fairley, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday, the opening day of his second-degree murder trial for Anderson’s 2024 death. The plea followed an agreed statement of facts describing a longstanding disagreement about Anderson’s cleanliness.

Fairley and Anderson, 29, lived in a basement suite in north Edmonton. They began sharing a home in August 2023 after meeting at a homeless shelter in Red Deer, where Fairley had been staying. Defence lawyer Graham Rapson told the court the two eventually decided to move to Edmonton and rented a suite at 8419-136 Ave.

The roommates began to clash over Anderson’s upkeep of the residence and cleanliness, according to the agreed facts. In the early hours of March 17, 2024, Anderson came home and interfered with some of Fairley’s computer equipment. A fight followed, during which Fairley strangled Anderson until he died.

Fairley called 911 after the killing and told the operator he had killed his roommate. He surrendered to police and was taken to the Edmonton Remand Centre. The following month, he told a great aunt that he had “went at” Anderson after Anderson began “messing with” his computers, although Fairley said he had not intended to kill him.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin heard victim impact statements on Tuesday, including one from Anderson’s daughter, read by her mother. The girl described sobbing in her mother’s arms when she learned her father had died. She was 10 at the time of the killing and is now 13.

“His murder has permanently changed my life,” the daughter said. “I had to grow up with a loss I was too young to carry.” She also spoke about living with unanswered questions and knowing her father was killed by someone he considered a friend. “I don’t understand, and I never will, why Joshua Fairley did what he did to my dad.”

The girl said her father’s absence remains part of her life. “Joshua Fairley took the man who was supposed to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day,” she said. “My dad wasn’t just the victim, but a person with so much more life to live.”

Rapson and prosecutor Fraser Genuis jointly proposed an eight-and-a-half-year sentence, saying it was consistent with sentences in similar manslaughter cases. Manslaughter sentences in Canada range from a suspended sentence to life in prison. Genuis said a substantial term was needed to denounce Fairley’s crime and deter others from committing similar violence.

Genuis also pointed to the nature of the killing, saying strangulation is not a quick way to kill someone and Fairley had ample opportunity to change his mind. He said Fairley should receive credit for calling 911 rather than trying to conceal the killing, and commended him for pleading guilty instead of proceeding with the trial. Macklin accepted the joint submission.

“From this court’s perspective, it’s not often the perpetrator of a crime like this considers the situation and makes the correct decision to call 911,” Macklin said.

Fairley has remained in jail since his arrest. Applying the standard credit of one-and-a-half days for each day spent in pretrial custody, he has about four-and-a-half years left to serve. Fairley appeared in court wearing a dark sweater, with glasses, dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He declined an opportunity to address the court.

The court heard Fairley was born in Boiestown, N.B., and moved between the East Coast and Alberta because of instability in his family. He endured a tumultuous childhood. At the time of the killing, he was pursuing post-secondary studies in programming and video game design, after financial difficulties had previously forced him to withdraw from his education.

Rapson said the computers involved in the dispute represented Fairley’s future. He said it was unlikely Fairley would get them back after completing his sentence. Fairley had aspired to become a video game designer.