A Burnaby man found guilty of manslaughter in the stabbing of a 17-year-old boy on a Surrey bus on April 11, 2023 was sentenced on Tuesday to eight years in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.<\/p>\n
But given credit for time served, at the rate of 1.5 days for every day spent in custody, his actual remaining sentence is three years, four months and 18 days.<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Rod Flannigan had argued for 10 to 12 years minus pretrial custody and defence lawyer Mark Swartz argued for six and a half years. A manslaughter sentence can range from a suspended sentence to life in prison.<\/p>\n
More than a year passed between the guilty verdict and sentencing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI apologize for having had to adjourn these reasons on two previous dates,\u201d Justice Terry Schultes remarked before commencing his nearly three-hour delivery of his reasons for judgment. \u201cI recognize the additional stress that changes dates places on everyone who is concerned with this outcome and I did not take the necessity of doing so lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schultes delivered his manslaughter verdict against Kaiden Mintenko, now 23, on March 20, 2025. He was tasked with deciding if Mintenko is guilty of second-degree murder or the lesser included crime of manslaughter following a 10-day trial in December 2024.<\/p>\n
The victim was stabbed once in the right upper chest while riding on a Route 503 bus in the 9900-block of King George Boulevard and died in Royal Columbian Hospital that night. Schultes imposed publication bans on information that would identify the teen and two Crown witnesses. He also ordered a publication ban on the identity of a fourth person.<\/p>\n
Before delivering the guilty verdict, Schultes noted that Mintenko warned the teen \u201cwatch your back\u201d just before stabbing him, suggesting he had a future encounter in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the evidence that I find most informative on the issue of intent is Mr. Mintenko saying \u2018watch your back\u2019 just before he stabbed (the victim),\u201d the judge decided.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must find Mr. Mintenko not guilty of murder but guilty of the included offence of manslaughter,\u201d he determined. This was met with weeping in the courtroom.<\/p>\n
Schultes noted the attack \u2013 in which Mintenko inflicted a flurry of punches on the teen before stabbing him in the crowded bus \u2013 lasted six seconds and was predicated on an \u201centirely false rumour\u201d that the victim was a pedophile.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on information of the most unreliable and fanciful kind,\u201d Schultes noted, Mintenko destroyed a \u201ccompletely innocent\u201d life on a motive that was \u201ccompletely disconnected from reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schultes turned to the victim impact statements he\u2019d heard, particularly from the victim\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe described, in effect, having died herself as a result of the loss of her son, and is simply going through the motions of living in order to care for her other children while looking forward to her own actual death so that she could join him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court heard Mintenko was adopted as an infant and his birth mother was 15 when she had him. \u201cShe is understood to have engaged in substance use in the early stages of her pregnancy,\u201d the judge noted.<\/p>\n
The judge noted Mintenko\u2019s cognitive deficit diminished his moral culpability \u201cto a degree\u201d but also said he\u2019s not convinced \u201cthat he yet fully grasps what factors led him to the point of commiting the offence and how important it is to take all possible steps to avoid reaching such a point again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court heard from an expert that Mintenko poses a high risk for future violence.<\/p>\n
Mintenko did not testify at his trial but other passengers did, including one who tried to stop the victim\u2019s bleeding with a scarf.<\/p>\n
Forensic pathologist Dr. Eric Bol testified that a knife with a single edge was thrust 17 centimetres (6.69 inches) into the victim, through the hardest bony part of his third rib into his right lung, damaging his pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein.<\/p>\n
The court heard Mintenko was prepared to plead guilty to manslaughter before the trial began on Dec. 2, 2024 but the Crown rejected this to pursue a murder conviction.<\/p>\n
Flannigan told Schultes although he found Mintenko didn\u2019t have the specific intent to murder \u201cthere\u2019s still evidence before the court\u201d of purpose and planning as well as a \u201cshrewdness\u201d in his dealing with police.<\/p>\n
\u201cSituations in manslaughter, they cover a wide range of circumstances of near accident to near murder,\u201d Flannigan noted. He said Mintenko was \u201clooking for violence\u201d and that this case is closer to murder than accident.<\/p>\n
Flannigan said Mintenko committed \u201cplanned\u201d violence against someone he didn\u2019t know, and noted his victim was \u201can innocent bystander who\u2019d done no wrong or injury to Mr. Mintenko.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA hefty sentence is required in this case,\u201d he told the judge. The teen didn\u2019t deserve to die in \u201csuch a brutal fashion,\u201d he said, adding Mintenko deprived the teen\u2019s family and friends \u201cof his presence and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swartz discussed Mintenko\u2019s \u201ccognitive difficulties\u201d at length, as well as him being \u201cvulnerable\u201d to peer suggestion, being exposed to alcohol prenatally and being someone with \u201ca compromised mental condition\u201d who struggles with emotional regulation and impulse control.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to become a better person, the best man he can, when he\u2019s eventually released from custody,\u201d Swartz told Schultes, adding Mintenko is \u201cdevastated\u201d over what he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n
The defence lawyer read from several \u201csupport letters,\u201d including one from Mintenko\u2019s parents indicating he has since \u201cgrown emotionally with a different attitude and outlook on life\u201d and that there\u2019s \u201cbeen some growth and maturity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flannigan noted at trial there were 37 passengers on the bus, not counting the driver. The victim was attacked while standing behind the driver. Flannigan noted much blood was spilled, dripping out the middle doors. \u201cWhat\u2019s important is this knife passed through the bone of the third rib,\u201d Flannigan said. \u201cThis was a forceful blow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trial heard Mintenko was fascinated with knives at an early age. A Crown witness testified during the trial that a girl who was with Mintenko on the bus knew the victim and would \u201ctry to egg him on\u201d whenever they crossed paths. \u201cThere was evidence of previous hostility\u201d from her to the victim, Schultes noted.<\/p>\n
The trial also heard that Mintenko admitted to police that he killed the teen but had also sobbed to the officers \u201che wasn\u2019t supposed to die, I didn\u2019t want it at all, I didn\u2019t want to kill him, I didn\u2019t want to, I wasn\u2019t trying to.\u201d<\/p>\n
When a police officer then asked Mintenko what he thought was going to happen then, Mintenko replied, \u201cI wasn\u2019t thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never wanted to hurt nobody,\u201d he told police.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m f\u2014-ing caught, man,\u201d Mintenko said. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Burnaby man found guilty of manslaughter in the stabbing of a 17-year-old boy on a Surrey bus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,163792,87674],"class_list":["post-679892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lower-mainland","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679892","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=679892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}