Kyle Gordon Ordway (right) killed his then-girlfriend Amy Watts (left) in May 2021, and was sentenced for manslaughter over three years later. His sentence has now been reduced by around a month due to changes in credit for time served. (submitted photos)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Court of Appeal

Sentenced reduced on appeal for Nanaimo man who killed girlfriend

Jun 17, 2025 | 12:35 PM

NANAIMO — A successful appeal based on credit for time served has seen a manslaughter sentence reduced.

Kyle Gordon Ordway pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter in August 2024, in connection to the death of his then-girlfriend Amy Watts in May 2021.

Ordway was given a four year jail sentence in October 2024 for pushing Watts off a steep, 50-foot drop off near Nanaimo City Hall.

However, a BC Court of Appeal panel found on Tuesday, June 10, the initial judge in the case, Justice Jennifer Power, made an error in calculating Ordway’s credit for time spent in custody between his arrest and sentencing.

The panel found Power credited Ordway for 1.435 days to every actual day served, in a bid to deliver a sentence of 24 months and one day (731 days) in order to qualify as a federal sentence, to be served at a federal penitentiary.

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“[Power] explained Mr. Ordway would have received a federal sentence of approximately 26 months if she had sentenced him [in August]. In her view, the sentence she imposed was less than what Mr. Ordway would have served had she sentenced him [in August].”

The Vancouver-based appeals court stated Power believed a two-year federal sentence “would meet the public interest”, however “there was no basis” a reduction in the rate of credit for time served.

In its decision, the Court returned the sentence to four years, less 762 days for credit of time served (508 actual days in custody) since Ordway’s arrest in June 2022.

Ordway was originally only credited for 729 days served.

As a result, Ordway will be eligible for release in late September 2026.

Watts’ death came at a time when her relationship with Ordway was mired with violence, drug addiction and unstable housing environments.

Just a few months prior to Watts’ death, she and Ordway joined forces to assault a female drug addict at a Wakesiah Ave. townhouse unit in Feb. 2021.

Ordway was found guilty by a jury in 2023, while the jury couldn’t find a consensus on two other charges against Ordway, which were eventually abandoned by the Crown.

The trial, which resulted in an 18-month jail sentence against Ordway for assault causing bodily harm, heard Ordway brought Watts directly from a Lower Mainland drug treatment facility to the troubled home where attacks against the victim quickly ensued.

Ordway was charged with manslaughter a year and a half after Watts’ body was discovered.

He has an extensive criminal record, primarily involving property crimes which are heavily linked to drug addiction.

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