Manslaughter
R. v. Jafari
Sentence and the Crown's position
Crown asked10 years in custody1
Judge imposed10 years imprisonment less 1,130 days pre-sentence credit; 82 months going forward1
What the law allows
MaximumLife imprisonment
Crown asked10 years in custody
Judge imposed10 years in custody
Defence asked4 years in custody
Riza Jafari was tried by a jury for second degree murder and convicted of the lesser included offence of manslaughter for a fatal knife attack in Burnaby carried out with his spouse. The Crown sought 10 to 11 years and the defence four years. Justice Tammen found it a case of aggravated manslaughter and set a fit sentence of 10 years, at the low end of the Crown's position; after 1,130 days of credit for pre-trial custody, he imposed 82 months.
In the judge's words
1The assault committed by Mr. Jafari was prolonged and sustained. Part of that assault involved two armed assailants repeatedly stabbing a single unarmed victim.
The record
- Convicted of
- Manslaughter (CC 236)
- Prior convictions
- 0 prior convictions1
- At the time of the offence
- Not stated1
- Defence asked for
- 4 years in custody1
- Appeal
- Not yet checked
- Counsel
- Crown: M. Merry, D. Meagher
Defence: D.A. Jardine, K.C., A.F. Hindi
Sources
- R. v. Jafari, 2026 BCSC 1468 Court decision, CanLII, July 10, 2026
[22] Crown counsel submits that this is clearly a case of aggravated manslaughter, justifying a sentence of 10 to 11 years.
[23] The accused submits that a fit sentence is four to five years and seeks an actual sentence of four years.
[1] THE COURT: The accused, Riza Jafari, was tried by a jury on one count of second degree murder.
[18] Mr. Jafari is 34 years old. He has no criminal record.
[41] The assault committed by Mr. Jafari was prolonged and sustained. Part of that assault involved two armed assailants repeatedly stabbing a single unarmed victim.
[47] The appropriate range of sentence is much closer to that identified by Crown counsel than that advocated by defence counsel. I find that range to be between eight and 12 years imprisonment. In this case, in my view a fit sentence for Mr. Jafari is the middle of that range, or the low end of the Crown position, namely, 10 years. From that must be deducted the appropriate figure for time spent in pretrial custody. Mr. Jafari has spent two years and 23 days in custody, a total of 753 days; multiplied by 1.5, that yields credit of 1,130 days. … [49] I sentence you to 82 months imprisonment.
- Criminal Code, s. 236 Record, Justice Laws Website
- R. v. Jafari, 2026 BCSC 1468 Court decision, Courts of British Columbia