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The so-called mastermind in the 2010 killing of Barrhaven teen Michael Swan was sentenced Thursday to nine years in a case the judge called a deadly betrayal of friendship.
Swan, 19, was shot in the back after being forced to his knees at gunpoint by three masked intruders from Toronto. Swan, a popular athlete, was executed in his own bedroom over a bag of weed, some money and NHL video games in what Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Aitken called a “tragic and senseless” killing driven by greed.
It was Sam Tsega, now 25, who conspired with a group of friends known as the “Toronto 3” — all since convicted of murder. While Tsega wasn’t at the armed home invasion, the court heard he certainly helped plan it, from giving them Swan’s address, the layout of the house and finally the masks used in the botched robbery. Tsega even billed his onetime friend as an easy target, according to court evidence.
In sentencing Tsega to nine years in prison, Justice Aitken said the convicted killer didn’t have the foresight to know someone would end up dead. The judge called him a young naive man who made a foolish decision, but reminded the court:
“But for Tsega, this home invasion and killing would never have occurred … He got the ball rolling by giving the information and had the power to put the brakes on the operation.”
Tsega had originally been on trial for second-degree murder, but the judge spared him a murder conviction and instead found him guilty of manslaughter in June.
Swan’s parents, seated in the front row of the courtroom on Thursday, have endured four trials.
“You have been living a parent’s worst nightmare for the last seven years,” Aitken said.
The judge also noted the justice system failed them by taking so long to prosecute the young men who killed their son. The judge blamed the delays on the complexity of the evidence, a lack of resources and decisions made by both the Crown and defence lawyers.
Tsega, a former Carleton University student who was expelled after his charges, was credited with 17 months for pre-trial custody. And while he apologized to Swan’s family and friends, the judge noted on Thursday that it was too little, too late.
Tsega was the Ottawa connection for his hardened gang-banger friends, known as the Toronto 3. He told them they could find money and marijuana at Swan’s home and helped them case the house before the killing, court heard.
The judge said the Crown failed to prove an essential element of second-degree murder, namely that Tsega, who was not at the scene of the crime, knew the robbery plot would end in murder.
“It was a tragic and senseless killing that has forever changed the fabric of the Barrhaven community,” the judge told court.
The manslaughter conviction follows six years of legal proceedings for Swan’s family and friends. His parents withstood a long trip through the criminal justice system, sitting quietly in court across four convictions, and listening to horrifying details about their 19-year-old son’s last moments. At best, they say, they felt like spectators, victimized by it all.
It was just after midnight when three masked men, dressed in black with handguns drawn, stormed Swan’s home and forced him and his friends to their knees at gunpoint, court heard. They demanded to know where he kept his dope and money, but Swan wouldn’t give it up. He even refused after they pressed a gun into his back.
“I don’t know,” Swan told them.
Those were his last words.
They shot him. The bullet pierced his heart. He was dead in less than a minute.
They then ransacked the home and stole two kilos of weed and $3,000.
Tsega is the final accomplice to be sentenced. Kristopher McLellan, the shooter, was convicted of first-degree murder, and the other two masked accomplices, Kyle Mullen and Dylon Barnett, were convicted of second-degree murder.
At Barnett’s sentencing hearing last year, Swan’s father, Dale, stood up in court to finally put a human face on his family’s tragedy.
Dale, a private man, told court: “I take exception that I have to do this in open court and before one of the very individuals responsible for my son’s death. This, in itself, I consider a form of victimization, but I realize this will be my only opportunity to try to put a human face on what has been, up to now a very cold, clinical, detached legal process.”
The sentencing judge on Thursday said that listening to the Swan family’s victim impact statements marked her “saddest” time in her 20 years on the bench.
查看原文...
Swan, 19, was shot in the back after being forced to his knees at gunpoint by three masked intruders from Toronto. Swan, a popular athlete, was executed in his own bedroom over a bag of weed, some money and NHL video games in what Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Aitken called a “tragic and senseless” killing driven by greed.
It was Sam Tsega, now 25, who conspired with a group of friends known as the “Toronto 3” — all since convicted of murder. While Tsega wasn’t at the armed home invasion, the court heard he certainly helped plan it, from giving them Swan’s address, the layout of the house and finally the masks used in the botched robbery. Tsega even billed his onetime friend as an easy target, according to court evidence.
In sentencing Tsega to nine years in prison, Justice Aitken said the convicted killer didn’t have the foresight to know someone would end up dead. The judge called him a young naive man who made a foolish decision, but reminded the court:
“But for Tsega, this home invasion and killing would never have occurred … He got the ball rolling by giving the information and had the power to put the brakes on the operation.”
Tsega had originally been on trial for second-degree murder, but the judge spared him a murder conviction and instead found him guilty of manslaughter in June.
Swan’s parents, seated in the front row of the courtroom on Thursday, have endured four trials.
“You have been living a parent’s worst nightmare for the last seven years,” Aitken said.
The judge also noted the justice system failed them by taking so long to prosecute the young men who killed their son. The judge blamed the delays on the complexity of the evidence, a lack of resources and decisions made by both the Crown and defence lawyers.
Tsega, a former Carleton University student who was expelled after his charges, was credited with 17 months for pre-trial custody. And while he apologized to Swan’s family and friends, the judge noted on Thursday that it was too little, too late.
Tsega was the Ottawa connection for his hardened gang-banger friends, known as the Toronto 3. He told them they could find money and marijuana at Swan’s home and helped them case the house before the killing, court heard.
The judge said the Crown failed to prove an essential element of second-degree murder, namely that Tsega, who was not at the scene of the crime, knew the robbery plot would end in murder.
“It was a tragic and senseless killing that has forever changed the fabric of the Barrhaven community,” the judge told court.
The manslaughter conviction follows six years of legal proceedings for Swan’s family and friends. His parents withstood a long trip through the criminal justice system, sitting quietly in court across four convictions, and listening to horrifying details about their 19-year-old son’s last moments. At best, they say, they felt like spectators, victimized by it all.
It was just after midnight when three masked men, dressed in black with handguns drawn, stormed Swan’s home and forced him and his friends to their knees at gunpoint, court heard. They demanded to know where he kept his dope and money, but Swan wouldn’t give it up. He even refused after they pressed a gun into his back.
“I don’t know,” Swan told them.
Those were his last words.
They shot him. The bullet pierced his heart. He was dead in less than a minute.
They then ransacked the home and stole two kilos of weed and $3,000.
Tsega is the final accomplice to be sentenced. Kristopher McLellan, the shooter, was convicted of first-degree murder, and the other two masked accomplices, Kyle Mullen and Dylon Barnett, were convicted of second-degree murder.
At Barnett’s sentencing hearing last year, Swan’s father, Dale, stood up in court to finally put a human face on his family’s tragedy.
Dale, a private man, told court: “I take exception that I have to do this in open court and before one of the very individuals responsible for my son’s death. This, in itself, I consider a form of victimization, but I realize this will be my only opportunity to try to put a human face on what has been, up to now a very cold, clinical, detached legal process.”
The sentencing judge on Thursday said that listening to the Swan family’s victim impact statements marked her “saddest” time in her 20 years on the bench.
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