Manslaughter
R. v. K.B.R.M.
A publication ban applies. The offender is not named.
- Below the Crown's ask
Sentence and the Crown's position
Crown asked10 years in custody1
Judge imposed8 years in custody, less 4 years, 7 months and 12 days of credit for pre-sentence custody (3 years, 4 months and 18 days remaining)1
2 years less custody than the Crown asked
What the law allows
MaximumLife imprisonment
Crown asked10 years in custody
Judge imposed8 years in custody
Defence asked6 years in custody
The offender was found guilty after trial of manslaughter for fatally stabbing a stranger on a transit bus in Surrey; he was acquitted of murder. The Crown sought 10 to 12 years; the defence sought six to six and a half years. Justice Schultes set the sentence at eight years' imprisonment, less credit of four years, seven months and 12 days for pre-sentence custody, finding that the offender's cognitive deficits reduced but did not remove his moral culpability and emphasizing denunciation, deterrence and separation from society.
In the judge's words
1Balancing these various factors, I think that denunciation and specific and general deterrence should receive the greatest emphasis here.
The record
- Convicted of
- Manslaughter (CC 236)
- Prior convictions
- 0 prior convictions1
- At the time of the offence
- Not stated1
- Defence asked for
- 6 years in custody1
- Appeal
- Not yet checked
- Counsel
- Crown: R. Flannigan
Defence: M. Swartz
Sources
- R. v. K.B.R.M., 2026 BCSC 1127 Court decision, CanLII, May 12, 2026
[139] Crown counsel seek a sentence of imprisonment in the range of 10-12 years.
[152] … counsel seek a sentence in the range of six to six and a half years.
[50] His criminal record consists of convictions as a youth: for carrying a concealed weapon (a knife) in 2017, when he was 14, for which he received a conditional discharge, and breaches of the resulting probation order in 2018 and 2019, for which he received further probation.
[193] Balancing these various factors, I think that denunciation and specific and general deterrence should receive the greatest emphasis here.
[202] … for total pretrial credit of four years, seven months and 12 days. … [203] In the absence of presentence custody, I would, for the reasons I have provided, have imposed a sentence of eight years' imprisonment. The actual sentence that I will be imposing now is three years, four months and 18 days.
- Criminal Code, s. 236 Record, Justice Laws Website
- R. v. K.B.R.M., 2026 BCSC 1127 Court decision, Courts of British Columbia