溫哥華老友記討論區 - Powered by Discuz! Board

標題: [國際新聞] Two Greeks gang members sentenced to life for two Vernon murders [打印本頁]

作者: tiffiant 時間: 2012-11-30 07:22 標題: Two Greeks gang members sentenced to life for two Vernon murders

Two Greeks gang members sentenced to life for two Vernon murders

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Greeks+gang+members+sentenced+life+Vernon+murders/7628897/story.html#ixzz2Digi1DhE
VANCOUVER - A B.C. Supreme Court judge sentenced two members of the Greeks gang to life in prison without parole for 25 years Thursday for the ruthless, brutal murders of two Vernon men.
Justice Bill Smart said Dale Sipes and Leslie Podolski showed a “complete and utter disregard for human life” when they both participated in the torture and slaying of Dave Marnuik in the summer of 2004 and when Sipes executed Ron Thom 10 months later.
“The victims of gang violence are often those involved in the illicit drug business,” Smart said in a high-security Vancouver courtroom.
“Mr. Marnuik was such a person. He was a mature man with a serious addiction to drugs. This addiction cost him his life.”
Marnuik breached gang rules by stealing drugs and taking off with the dial-a-dope phone, leading Greeks enforcers to grab him, take him to their clubhouse and beat him with a baseball bat, hammer and blow torch.
“Mr. Sipes and Mr. Podolski had their way with Mr. Marnuik while he was duct-taped to a chair, helpless and defenceless. Mr. Sipes and Mr. Podolski did so in a way that was brutal and sadistic, including Mr. Sipes assaulting Mr. Marnuik with a blowtorch,” Smart said.
They also helped dispose of Marnuik’s body by burning it in the hills near Enderby.
“It was a final act of callousness that left Mr. Marnuik’s family without any trace of his existence,” Smart said.
He said the execution of Ron Thom on May 31, 2005 was “mercifully quicker than Mr. Marnuik’s, but no less chilling.”
Thom, who the gang mistakenly believed had cooperated with police, was lured to a road near Vernon in the middle of the night and shot to death.
“Sipes walked up to Mr. Thom as he lay dead or dying on Commonage Road and shot him twice in the face to ensure his death,” Smart said. “Like Mr. Marnuik, he had no way of defending himself.”
Senior prosecutor Peter Favell read one line from a short victim impact statement provided by Marnuik’s sister.
“I feel sick when I think about the pain my brother must have endured as his life was taken from him in this brutal act of violence,” the statement said.
Favell said the vicious crimes “will have a permanent physical and mental adverse impact on the Marnuik family as they move forward.”
He said Thom’s family had declined to provide a victim impact statement to the court.
Sipes, Podolski, Greeks boss Peter Manolakos and enforcer Sheldon O’Donnell were all convicted by a jury of first-degree murder Sunday. Greeks associate Douglas Brownell was convicted of manslaughter in the Thom’s slaying, as well as the beating death of Thomas Edward Bryce in November 2004.
O’Donnell will be sentenced Dec. 12, while Manolakos and Brownell will have their hearings sometime in January.
Smart began his remarks by praising the police and Crown for taking on the violent drug gang that terrorized the north Okanagan for years.
He said when Thom’s bullet-ridden body was left on Commonage Road, it was “to send a message to others involved in the illegal drug subculture.”
“However the brazen public display of Mr. Thom’s body was also a challenge to the police and the administration of justice — a challenge that the Greeks could murder with impunity,” he said.
“In my view, the citizens in this province can take pride in how that challenge was responded to.”
He said the RCMP investigators broke down “the wall of silence that usually protects those involved in criminal gangs.”
“The police were able to gather sufficient evidence by May of 2006 to arrest and charge the senior members of the Greeks and effectively shut down the gang’s operations,” he said.
He thanked Crown prosecutors for “fairly and forcefully” presenting their case over the record long proceedings and defence lawyers for vigorously defending the five killers.
Neither Sipes nor Podolski addressed the court. Sipes, wearing a blue dress shirt, sat up rigidly and showed no emotion. Podolski in a grey jacket, leaned forward looking solemn.
Outside court, Sipes’s lawyer Matthew Nathanson said he is already working on an appeal.

作者: tiffiant 時間: 2012-11-30 07:23

Justice Bill Smart said both Dale Sipes and Leslie Podolski showed a "complete and utter disregard for human life" when they both participated in the torture and slaying of Dave Marniuk (pictured) in the summer of 2004.

Photos displayed by RCMP in 2005 at the Vernon detachment, showed images of tattoos investigators say were worn by members of The Greeks.

歡迎光臨溫哥華老友記討論區 (http://loyaukee.com/forum/)