Two of teen’s killers released from custody
Young offenders guilty of manslaughter in 2015 swarming of 19-year-old Luka Gordic in Whistler
Two of the young men convicted in the swarming attack that claimed the life of Burnaby teen Luka Gordic have been ordered released from custody.
The two offenders, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, were found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the fatal stabbing of Gordic, 19, in Whistler in May 2015.
In January 2019, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Terence Schultes sentenced each of them to a three-year custody and supervision order, with 18 months to be served in jail and 18 months in the community under supervision.
After serving a year in custody they were entitled to a review of their sentence under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
In February, the judge handed down his decision for one of the young men, an offender who was 17 years old at the time of the fatal attack.
That offender, while not being identified among the group searching for Gordic before the attack, had carried and opened a knife at the scene of the crime, but was not using the knife.
The judge found that the offender’s progress report in prison was “extremely positive” and although he had had three disciplinary offences, all of them had occurred early in his incarceration.
The offender had also completed several “core” programs in prison and had focused on trades training, including obtaining his welding tickets.
Schultes concluded that the offender had made exceptional efforts toward rehabilitation, and balancing his individual concerns with the overall public interest, he determined that his conditional release was justified.
The second offender, whose release was ordered last Monday, was 2½ months shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the attack.
He participated in the group’s search for Gordic in the Whistler Village before the attack, questioning three of Gordic’s friends on his whereabouts.
The Crown opposed his early release, arguing that the offender’s progress report in prison was “very sparse” and pointing out that there had been no acceptance of responsibility for his role in the attack, only an expression of regret for the outcome.
But the judge said that while the materials before the court did not address the question of remorse, the offender at the sentencing hearing had expressed appropriate sentiments about the harm that Gordic and his family had suffered, within the restrictions imposed by his insistence that he was not guilty and intends to appeal his conviction.
The judge said that despite having committed several disciplinary offences in prison, the offender’s overall effort still qualified as “exceptional.”
“I am also satisfied that this represents a material change from the time that the sentence was imposed,” and that “the young person has made sufficient progress to justify a change in the youth sentence.”
A third young man, who used a knife to stab Gordic in the heart and also cannot be identified, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life with no parole eligibility for seven years. A fourth accused, Arvin Golic, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison.