The Vancouver Sun is reporting that "One of two men charged in connection with a fatal stabbing in Surrey nearly two years ago has been convicted of assault. Tyson Darryl Cole, 29, was charged with manslaughter in the death of 63-year-old Donald William Deweyn. During an appearance in provincial court in Surrey last week, Cole was convicted of the lesser included charge of assault causing bodily harm. According to court records, he was sentenced to time served plus a day in jail, and a year of probation. Cole spent more than a year in custody before his conviction."
"At about 5 a.m. on July 25, 2014, Deweyn was stabbed during an altercation with two males in a parking lot near 106th Avenue and 135A Street. Deweyn was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries less than 30 minutes later.Deweyn was a retired millworker, a widower and homeless at the time of his death, though he was staying in the area. Deweyn had no criminal record and no negative contact with police. "
This once again highlights the exploitation of the homeless on the infamous Surrey strip that has been in the news. One year plus a day for murder is a disgusting insult to human dignity. Two guys were arguing with a homelssman on the Strip and stabbed him. What do you think the odds are they were arguing about a drug debt? They sure didn't kill him for his wallet. He was homeless. Yet both suspects had a long history of threats and theft. Robbing the homeless on welfare day is nothing new either. They stabbed Donald Dewey in the early morning hours of Friday July 25th 2014. Right after Welfare Wednesday.
The victim Donald Deweyn was a retired millworker, a widower and homeless at the time of his death. Deweyn once owned a property in New Westminster that was foreclosed upon in October 2011. This was a retired millworker who ended up homeless after they foreclosed his property. Giving the homeless drugs, then beating the life out of them for payment is predatory yet the victim had no criminal record. One year plus a day for murder is an outrage.
Dylan Dempsey, Tyson's coaccused was found guilty of uttering threats last month but the crown filed a stay of proceedings on the assault with a weapon charge. These are repeat offenders.
Tent city plagued by violence
sad what this place has become.
ReplyDeleteA sad state of affairs indeed.
DeleteMom always said there was one law for the rich and one law for the poor. This is a classic e.g. If the victim had been a middle class individual with friends, the sentence would have been at least five years, which I have always thought was the average for manslaughter or ought to be, especially in a case such as this.
ReplyDeleteThe courts are simply not upholding the law. On the other hand judges maybe given direction to not send too many to prison, that costs money. I'm not keen on sending people to jail, but when you kill a person in a situation such as this, 5 years is an acceptable sentence.
Tragically that is exactly what this offensive decision implies. The murder doesn't matter because the person was homeless. That is an outrage to human dignity. Stealing from a homeless person on Welfare Wednesday is worse than stealing from a rich person who can afford it.
Delete5 years is acceptable? For taking a human life? AYFKM. 10-15 is more like it and quite frankly, to me murder is murder. Manslaughter is not appropriate in most cases.
DeleteBut you think 5 years is appropriate. Life truly is cheap in B.C..
Indeed. They said at least five years which would have been better than one year plus a day. Five years is cheap but one year plus a day is simply offensive.
DeleteNo life is cheap, regardless of the sentence.
ReplyDeleteSaying life is cheap, is a disregard for the value of life.
Sentencing people to very long terms frequently does not gain society anything. We have seen just how well that works in the U.S.A. What are the up to now? 2 million in jail and the private prison industry doing ever so well on the stock exchanges.
Manslaughter is a reasonable charge, as is the division of the murder charges. Not all homicides are the result of the same actions.
In my opinion what we have in North America is an unwritten rule that says you go to jail for less time if you kill someone who is viewed as "lesser" by society.
it is also cost effective to some times have defendants plead to a lower charge, when they are guilty, to avoid the lengthy time it takes to get to trial and the cost.
In this particular case, a one year sentence was not appropriate, but then again we don't know the whole back story.