‘Extremely violent’: Man gets life sentence for fatal 2023 Spryfield stabbing

Alexander Howe was sentenced to life for the 2023 stabbing death in Spryfield, N.S.

A man who fatally stabbed another man in the Halifax area in 2023 has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Alexander Charles Howe, now 38, was formally sentenced for second-degree murder in the death of Adam Jerome Dempsey, 32, in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Monday.

Howe was originally charged with first-degree murder, though he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder in March 2025.

“The mortal attack that was carried out by Mr. Howe was unexpected, vicious, cowardly and fuelled, in part, by drugs and alcohol,” said Justice Joshua Arnold.

Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence, but parole ineligibility can range from 10 to 25 years.

Howe’s parole ineligibility has been set for 10 years, with credit for the 825 days he has already spent in custody, based on a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.

‘Tension started to develop’

The sentence comes after Halifax Regional Police responded to a report of a stabbing on Twin Oaks Road in Spryfield around 2:20 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2023.

Court heard that there was a small get-together at Howe’s apartment the night of Aug. 15, 2023.

Attendees were consuming alcohol and cocaine, listening to music, dancing, engaging in rap battles and conversation, according to the agreed statement of facts.

But at some point during the night, “tension started to develop between Adam Dempsey and Alex Howe.”

They were yelling at each other, but nothing physical transpired, according to the agreed statement of facts read by Crown prosecutor Mike Berrigan.

Shortly after 2 a.m., a female witness saw Dempsey and Howe reconciling their differences in the bedroom, hugging each other and telling each other, “I love you.”

She then saw Howe reach for a large hunting knife that was in the bedroom, and he began stabbing Dempsey in the chest.

The woman told a male attendee, Adam Dempsey’s cousin, who was on the couch, to call 911.

He then opened the bedroom door “and observed Alex standing over Adam. Adam was on the floor, and Alex was repeatedly stabbing Adam.”

He yelled at Howe, who stopped stabbing Dempsey.

‘Slipping in his own blood’

“Adam got up to run away,” said the prosecutor. “He was slipping in his own blood.”

He managed to crawl to his cousin, who helped him up, before the two started running out of the apartment.

“While they were running, Adam was telling (the man) that he was dying,” court heard.

Dempsey collapsed at the bottom of the stairs in the apartment building.

The man tried to administer first aid to Dempsey’s neck, which was actively bleeding.

The female attendee tried to leave the apartment, but “was unable to open the door because the knob was covered in blood and her hands kept slipping.”

‘Please don’t hurt me’

The woman called 911 at 2:20 a.m., but during that call, Howe approached her when “she begged him not to hurt her.”

“The call was quickly dropped,” said the prosecutor. “On the call, a female is heard saying, ‘Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me. Can you open the door, please, please?’”

According to the agreed statement of facts, a male voice was heard in the background, saying something like, “Give me the f**king cellphone.”

That’s when the call dropped.

Moments later, Howe exited the apartment and went down the stairs, when the male witness ran to a neighbouring apartment, rented by Howe’s mother.

He began banging on the door, asking her to call 911.

“Howe continued to attack the victim at the bottom of the stairs,” Berrigan told Justice Arnold.

Howe ran to his mother’s apartment and told her partygoers, “tried to rob him,” court was told.

Dempsey’s cousin also called 911 and reported that Adam “was stabbed multiple times and there was blood everywhere.”

A third 911 call from the female witness came after she fled to a nearby gas station.

At 2:23 a.m., officers responded to the scene and Dempsey’s cousin said, “You need to hurry.”

Two constables entered Howe’s mother’s apartment, where he and another man were fighting.

At 2:24 a.m., two other officers arrived and found Adam Dempsey near the side of the house, “wearing only sweatpants with a large amount of blood pooling under his upper torso.”

Cause of death: multiple stab wounds

Officers saw “several stab wounds” on Dempsey’s body, including one on his neck that was actively bleeding. First aid was attempted.

A large hunting-style knife, with a six-to-eight-inch blade, was found by him.

About 15 minutes later, Howe was arrested for attempted murder. Dempsey was pronounced dead in hospital at 3:05 a.m.

Howe was then arrested for murder.

An autopsy determined Dempsey’s cause of death was multiple stab wounds

There were multiple sharp force injuries of the head, neck, torso and extremities.

The most pathologically significant stab wound was one to the neck, transecting the left subclavian artery and a vein.

Dempsey’s left lung, kidney, spleen and liver were also injured in the stabbing.

‘Evil, scary’ death: Victim’s sister

A victim impact statement, read by the prosecutor on behalf of Dempsey’s sister, said he “did not deserve to have his life taken in such a horrific way.”

“Adam’s life may have been cut short, but one thing nobody can ever take from him is his heart, no matter what mistakes he made in his short life.

“Since my brother was taken in such an evil, scary way, I now look at this world differently,” Alicia Dempsey wrote.

“Adam was senselessly killed, brutally,” she wrote. “My big brother Adam Dempsey — life cut short and ripped away from everyone who so dearly loved him.”

She wrote that his children will grow up and read “how brutally he left this earth.”

“I never thought I’d be living in a horror movie, but that is now my reality,” she wrote. “Adam experienced it firsthand.”

Dempsey’s obituary described him as a lobster fisherman “who loved the water, but when not on the water you could find him with his children on adventures or lending a helping hand to anyone who needed it.

“A jokester with a big heart and a big smile.”

‘Extremely violent’ and ‘unprovoked’ attack

Berrigan, the Crown prosecutor, said Howe had a criminal record, including a 21-day in-custody sentence in 2010 for assault.

He said Howe’s record is “quite limited and a bit dated, but it is aggravating.”

The Crown also said Howe’s guilty plea was a mitigating factor.

“The extremely violent nature of this attack is aggravating, and it was unprovoked as well,” Berrigan said.

Howe, who was “very intoxicated” from alcohol and cocaine at the time, also chased after the unarmed victim, Berrigan said.

Berrigan told the judge that Howe had difficult upbringing, including the loss of his father, exposure to substance abuse in his house, being the victim of abuse from relatives, but he does have a history of employment.

“He does appear to be a good potential candidate for rehabilitation,” the prosecutor said.

‘Completely out of character’: defence

Howe’s lawyer, Zeb Brown, said that despite being kicked out of school at a young age for behavioural problems, he entered the workforce and has been working steadily for the past 20 years, mostly as a roofer.

“Mr. Howe made something of himself, despite the challenges that he had,” said Brown.

“Obviously, he carried some baggage with him as the years went by, but he’s not somebody that gave up, he’s not somebody that descended into a life of crime and petty violence and those other sorts of issues that we so often see.”

Brown described Howe’s criminal record as “very minor” and noted that he has three children, one of whom he has had custody for the past six or seven years, raising him with the help of his mother.

He said Howe made comments about beliefs that he was in a state of psychosis at the time of the killing.

“His actions remain, in some way, incomprehensible, even to Mr. Howe,” Brown said. “This is something that he struggles to really understand why he did this, why he snapped, and how he lost control on that night.”

“This was completely out of character for Mr. Howe,” he said. “He didn’t know the victim very well, there was no history of animosity between the two of them.

“I think it’s safe to conclude that this is something that Mr. Howe would not normally have done, but for the fact that he was impacted by his use of drugs and alcohol, and possibly also fatigue,” Brown said.

Howe hadn’t slept for three days.

He said Howe, who declined to speak when given the option by the judge, has fully accepted responsibility for the crime.

Justice Arnold repeated that, despite accepting the joint recommendation of 10 years without parole eligibility, that would only be the time that Howe could begin applying for parole and there is no guarantee of his release.

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• 32-year-old man dead after early morning stabbing in Halifax: police

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