A B.C. Supreme Court judge sentenced Brandon Nathan Teixeira to life in prison for first-degree murder and 14 years for attempted murder, to be served concurrently.<\/p>\n
Teixeira was found guilty last August of murder and attempted murder in connection with the October 2017 shooting death of Nicholas Khabra, 28, in South Surrey, and the wounding of a woman who testified that she was with Khabra on the day he was killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne man\u2019s life was cut short and one young woman\u2019s life was changed forever,\u201d Justice Jennifer Duncan said at the sentencing, which happened Wednesday (April 1) in New Westminster.<\/p>\n
Prior to her sentence, Duncan heard submissions from Crown counsellor Dianne Wiedemann, who pushed for a life sentence for the attempted murder charge, to be served concurrently with the life sentence for the first-degree murder charge. Defence lawyer Reza Mansoori-Dara argued 12 to 15 years would be more appropriate for the attempted murder charge.<\/p>\n
Duncan found 14 years for the attempted murder charge \u201cas fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that there was pre-planning to specifically shoot and kill Person A. She was the unfortunate victim in that she was, by no fault of her own or of Mr. Khabra\u2019s, in the wrong place at the wrong time and sadly, she will forever bear those consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third count against Teixeira \u2014 discharge a firearm with intent \u2014 was not considered because there was an \u201coral verdict misfire by jury,\u201d Duncan said, recalling that the actual verdict sheet had not been filled out after jury deliberations last summer, but she didn\u2019t realize, and called the jury back in to clarify.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take the position I was wrong to (call the jury back in),\u201d Duncan said. \u201cThat\u2019s a fertile ground for another court to probe into.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teixeira, dressed in a red T-shirt and pants, sported glasses and a beard, and sat quietly, sometimes taking notes, during the proceeding. He was also the subject of an extensive manhunt in the Lower Mainland before being arrested at a home in Oroville, Calif. in December, of 2017 following an anonymous tip to U.S. authorities.<\/p>\n
Now 35, he was 26 at the time of Khabra\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n
Wiedemann described the course of events that led to Khabra\u2019s death, in what she described as a contract killing that Teixeira had agreed to do for money, which he allegedly split with an accomplice, Witness X, and how the pair arranged to meet Khabra, who was being driven by his girlfriend, Person A, that October night in South Surrey.<\/p>\n
Teixeira shot \u201cmultiple shots\u201d at Khabra and Person A after having a conversation with Khabra, Wiedemann said, using two guns after the first one jammed. When Khabra tried to get away to a nearby home, Teixeira followed and, when a second gun jammed, used a knife to stab Khabra, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Teixeira then continued his attack by stabbing Mr. Khabra multiple times, leaving a bloody and gruesome scene in the vestibule (of the home) as depicted by photographs entered as Exhibit 1 at trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teixeria and Witness X fled the scene before police or paramedics arrived, as Person A and residents in the area had called 9-1-1, Wiedemann continued, disposing of incriminating material as they fled, throwing away the guns, bullets, a knife and cellphone before burning a decoy vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn total Mr. Khabra suffered 51 injuries including four gunshot wounds and 31 sharp force injuries,\u201d Wiedemann said. \u201cHe died a few hours after the attack at Royal Columbian Hospital. Person A sustained wounds to her thigh area from two bullets. She was treated at the same hospital and released later that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Person A read a victim impact statement to the court, noting her life has been forever changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no going back to normal for me. The day I was shot changed everything,\u201d she told the court, her voice thick with emotion as she wiped away tears. \u201cMy sense of safety, my peace, and my freedom were taken from me. What you did to me was disgusting, especially because I didn\u2019t have anything to do with that whole situation,\u201d Person A said to Teixeira. \u201cThe evil actions you took (are) those of a person who doesn\u2019t seem to care for any living being.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiedemann then argued for a life sentence for the attempted murder charge, citing previous court cases in Ontario and B.C.<\/p>\n
Mansoori-Dara countered the cases Wiedemann submitted and said 12 to 15 years would be a more appropriate sentence for Teixeira on the attempted murder charge.<\/p>\n
He described Teixeira\u2019s life prior to the killing, a son of divorced parents who remains close to his father and siblings, and noted that although he had a \u201climited\u201d criminal record, \u201che was a young man and because of that, the principle of rehabilitation is operative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teixeria did not address the court and was, according to Mansoori-Dara, not feeling well due to a throat infection.<\/p>\n
Additional ancillary orders for Teixeira include a mandatory DNA order, a lifetime firearms prohibition, and no contact with with Person A, other witnesses, or Khabra\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
Khabra\u2019s father, who declined to speak to media, thanked Crown lawyers outside the courtroom after the sentencing.<\/p>\n
The sentencing hearing followed Teixeira\u2019s failed efforts to have his convictions set aside.<\/p>\n
Duncan dismissed Teixeira\u2019s application for a judicial stay on Feb. 25, which contended his rights to a trial within a reasonable time had been violated. Arrested in December 2019, the trial got underway in February of last year, with the jury\u2019s findings rendered on Aug. 25, 2025.<\/p>\n
A first-degree murder conviction comes with an automatic life sentence.<\/p>\n
In her sentence, Duncan told Teixeira \u201cafter serving at least 15 years of your sentence, you may apply under section 745.6 of the Criminal Code for a reduction in the number of years of imprisonment about eligibility for parole.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the jury hearing the application reduces the period of parole and eligibility, Teixeira may then make an application for parole under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act at the end of that reduced period, she noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the current state of the law and you\u2019re eligible for that at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reaching the eligibility date does not mean an automatic release; that decision is made by the Parole Board of Canada.<\/p>\n
\u2014 with files from Tracy Holmes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A B.C. Supreme Court judge sentenced Brandon Nathan Teixeira to life in prison for first-degree murder and 14…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-577545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}