Charity on ice 18 Christmas lights in the city 32,33
Prince George Thursday December 19, 2019 Your community newspaper since 1916
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Strimbold petition launched Mark Nielsen Citizen staff
Citizen Photo by James Doyle
Fighting hunger Members of the B.C. Emergency Health Services and Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. show off
some of the items that were donated on Sunday afternoon at the College Heights location of Save-On-Foods during the 13th Annual Red and White Hunger Fight.
Man sentenced for shooting death Mark Nielsen Citizen staff
A Burns Lake-area man has been sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 12 years for the second-degree murder of his ex-wife’s friend. Albert Gordon Giesbrecht, 67, was issued the term in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers on Dec. 9 for the May 18, 2017 shooting death of Raymond Bishop, 59, in Southside. Giesbrecht had originally been charged with first-degree murder, which would have carried a minimum 25 years in prison. But during the course of submissions, Crown prosecution abandoned the theory that Giesbrecht’s actions were the result of planning and deliberation. According to an account provided by Justice David
Crossin in a May 24 decision to find him guilty of the lesser count, Giesbrecht left his home in Burns Lake sometime after 5 a.m. and boarded the 5:55 a.m. ferry to Southside. He was carrying with him two rifles with ammunition and Crown prosecution argued Giesbrecht went to Southside looking for Bishop and his ex-wife. “His motives and intentions were unclear other than he ‘wanted answers,’” Crossin said. Video from the ferry showed Giesbrecht, upon leaving the ferry, headed in the direction of Murray Road, where Bishop lived. A few minutes later, Giesbrecht’s vehicle is seen again retracing his route, this time being followed by a pickup driven by Bishop. How Bishop came to fol-
low Giesbrecht is not known although he did usually catch the ferry at that hour to Burns Lake where he worked. He also knew where Giesbrecht’s ex-wife lived and would have known Giesbrecht was at least heading in the general direction of her home. Either way, Bishop pulled in front of Giesbrecht, prompting Crossin to conclude Bishop was hoping to stop Giesbrecht’s progress. They performed a rolling stop at a nearby intersection and then continued on and out of the view of the video camera where, according to the evidence, they stopped at some point. Shortly after, Giesbrecht’s vehicle is back in view while Bishop’s was not. “It was during this timeframe of approximately two minutes, hidden from the view of the video camera, that both
vehicles eventually came to a stop and Mr. Bishop was ultimately shot and killed,” Crossin said. The case hinged significantly on two calls Giesbrecht made to 911. In reaching his verdict, Crossin effectively agreed with the Crown’s position that in the first call, made a few minutes after the incident, Giesbrecht not only admitted to shooting Bishop but provided the reason for doing so when he agreed with police that there was a history between the two. In the second call, made about two hours later, Giesbrecht claimed the shooting was accidental. Why Giesbrecht did not raise the notion during the first call is “beyond the most charitable boundaries of common sense,” Crossin said.
An online petition has been launched calling on B.C.’s Attorney General to seek an appeal of the sentence issued to former Burns Lake mayor Luke Strimbold. Strimbold was sentenced Dec. 4 in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers to two years less a day followed by two years probation after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual assault involving four boys who were under the age of 16. The term has not sat well with Glen Laliberte and the more than 2,000 people who have signed it as of Monday. The term is “not just and his victims deserve better,” Laliberte said in the posting on Change. org. “Strimbold’s victims will live with this traumatic event for the rest of their lives. What is the message our justice system is sending to others that harm innocent children?” he continued. B.C. Prosecution Service communications counsel Daniel McLaughlin said the Attorney General has the authority to “provide direction to the BCPS” with respect to the “approval or conduct of an appeal.” But he also cautioned that the Attorney General “must fulfill this constitutional role in an independent and judicial manner.” According to a BCPS policy manual, an appeal of sentencing will be approved only if the term is either illegal or unfit and either involves a serious offence, raises a question concerning legal principle or involves the public interest in the proper administration of justice. But in general, “a sentence will only be considered unfit if it is clearly below the acceptable range of sentence and not merely at the low end of the acceptable range.” Crown counsel was seeking four to six years, which would have been served in a federal institution, while Strimbold’s lawyer argued for 18 months. — See EARLY RELEASE on page 3