KEITH FRASER
The Province
The B.C. Court of Appeal has reduced by a year the sentence of a man convicted in connection with a fatal shooting in Victoria.
Along with a co-accused, Samuel McGrath was initially charged with the March 2010 second-degree murder of Leslie Hankel, 52, who was mistakenly believed to be a drug dealer and was shot to death during a home invasion.
McGrath, who was found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter, was sentenced to 12 years in jail but had the sentence reduced to nine years, 345 days after he received credit for pre-sentence custody.
The trial judge gave him credit of one day for each day he had spent in custody prior to the sentencing.
In a ruling released by a three-judge panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal, McGrath’s sentence has now been reduced by another year, to eight years, 335 days.
The court noted that the Crown did not oppose the granting of credit at a rate of 1.5 days for each day spent in pre-sentence custody, in place of the one-to-one credit initially granted, in light of a 2014 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada which set out new guidelines for the granting of such credit.
“The Crown does not raise any circumstances that make enhanced credit inappropriate or to rebut the inference that the appellant has lost eligibility for parole or early release,” said the ruling released by Justice Elizabeth Bennett, Justice David Harris and Justice John Hunter.
The B.C. Prosecution Service said in an email that following the principles set out in the Supreme Court of Canada case and subsequent cases, the Crown could not establish that McGrath fell into any of the categories that would disentitle him to enhanced credit.
There have been numerous other cases in B.C. where sentences have been reduced after pre-sentence custody has been reviewed, but the service said it does not track the exact number of such cases.
Andrew Jonathon Belcourt, McGrath’s co-accused, was convicted of second-degree murder and received a sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 17 years.
His conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered. Following a second trial, he was again convicted of second-degree murder. He received a sentence of life in prison with no parole for 15 years.
Court heard that the two men dressed themselves in dark clothing, including hoodies, wore gloves and masks and entered Hankel’s building in the early morning hours.
They kicked in the front door and then terrorized and beat Hankel while they looked for drugs and money before Belcourt shot him.
