VANCOUVER — A former RCMP officer who was at the centre of a corruption case involving the Surrey Six murder investigation pleaded guilty to several offences Friday but avoided jail time.
Derek Brassington pleaded guilty to breach of trust and attempted obstruction of justice and received a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community.
Because of a publication ban, the reasons for the sentence imposed by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Arne Silverman cannot be reported yet.
The ban extended as well to submissions made by special prosecutor Chris Considine and defence lawyer Ian Donaldson and evidence heard at the courtroom proceeding.
The conditions in Brassington’s sentence include house arrest, 100 hours of community service and a $10,000 restitution order.
The pleas of Brassington, one of four Mounties charged in the case, bring to an end a key chapter in an investigation that goes back nearly eight years. And it came as the trial of the four was finally about to begin after the case had been plagued by years of delays and adjournments.
The breach of trust count involves misconduct by Brassington while managing a witness, who is only identified as Jane Doe, in a criminal investigation. That offence occurred between June 1 and Dec. 31, 2009, in Surrey and elsewhere in B.C. and Canada.
Brassington, who was in the RCMP for 13 years, also pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct justice by compromising the integrity of a witness or witnesses in relation to a criminal investigation. That offence also occurred in Surrey and elsewhere in B.C. and Canada during the same time frame.
“Guilty, my Lord,” Brassington said to both counts.
Brassington and the other three officers were initially charged in June 2011. In January 2010, it was announced that Brassington had been assigned desk duties in December 2009 when allegations against him surfaced.
A lawyer for Brassington was quoted as saying that years of investigating murder cases had taken a toll on the officer, who was also one of the officers who investigated the cops embroiled in the case of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died at the Vancouver airport in 2007 after being tasered by Mounties.
In May 2013, then-Sgt. Brassington voluntarily resigned from the force after being charged with theft under $5,000, an offence not related to the Surrey Six case. He entered a guilty plea to that offence, apologizing for shoplifting a $70 hoodie. Brassington received a conditional discharge and 12 months probation in December 2013.
Brassington, who was initially suspended in April 2010, was charged with seven offences in the Surrey Six case. The five remaining charges were stayed Friday by Considine.
Former Staff Sgt. David Attew was charged with six offences, including breach of trust, fraud and obstruction of justice, while former Cpl. Paul Johnson and Cpl. Danny Michaud were charged with breach of trust, obstruction of justice and misleading investigators from the Ontario Provincial Police who were looking into the allegations against Brassington.
Late last year, Johnson had his trial severed from the other three after it was learned that he had been diagnosed with cancer and needed treatments.
The trial of Michaud and Attew is scheduled to go ahead in B.C. Supreme Court in February.
Six men were shot to death in the gangland slayings in a highrise apartment in Surrey in October 2007.
So far five men have been convicted in relation to offences involving the slayings. Appeals are continuing for several of the offenders.
