INSIDE: Local widow stunned by latest turn in Surrey Six case Pg. 3 T U E S D A Y
June 28, 2011
12 N E W S ,
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Can’t-miss Canada Day events in Abby & Mission
E N T E R T A I N M E N T abbotsfordtimes.com
Abbotsford releases City wages
NATIVE CELEBRATIONS
Top 7 earners take home more than $150,000 ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
A
b b o t s f o r d ’s a n n u a l financial statements show the City’s top seven earners took home in excess of $150,000 last year.
First reported @
abbotsfordtimes.com
– JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
National Aboriginal Day was held at the Aboriginal Education Centre in Abbotsford Wednesday. Johnny Cadotte, 7, celebrated by having his face painted by Lori Kelly (above, right), while performers included the Heilstuk Urban Dancers from throughout the Lower Mainland (left).
T h e C i t y re l e a s e d t h e salary information of the 178 employees who earned more than $75,000 in 2010 in its financial information statement for the year. City manager Frank Pizzuto was the number one earner with a salary of $235,328, including expenses. see WAGES, page A6
Manslaughter sentence looms in Hans case ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
Plenty of security as anxious family and friends await judgement
M
ing (visit www.abbotsfordtimes. com for his decision). Hans, an 18-year-old Rick Hansen Secondary student, was just weeks away from graduating when his throat was slashed in a fight outside his home in the 31600 block of Ridgeview Drive in the early hours of May 24, 2008. Following an outburst yesterday, in which a member of the Hans family yelled a slur at Brar, Justice Grist warned everyone attending court that untoward comments or actions would be deemed breaches of the peace.
ore than half a dozen sheriffs stood watch over a tense, packed courtroom in Chilliwack yesterday at the sentencing hearing for one of the men accused in the 2008 stabbing death of Abbotsford teenager Harvey Hans. Shavinder “Shevy” Brar, originally charged with murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on June 10 and appeared in Chilliwack Supreme Court for his sentencing hearing. Justice William Grist is expected to hand Brar his sentence this morn-
“This was a cowardly act . . . a deliberate act of unnecessary violence.” – Carolyn Lawlor Crown counsel
Crown counsel Jim Barbour told court that the melee outside of Hans’ home was sparked by a dispute the victim had earlier in the evening with Brar’s younger brother.
Brar heard about the altercation and arranged to go to the Hans’ family home and confront him. Neighbours told police they woke up to see a number of men arrive, and saw two men walking in front of the home “huffing and puffing.” They said they overheard a man called “Sunny” telling Brar to punch Hans real quick and that he’d “shank him.” They also said the man pulled out a blade and showed it to Brar. Hans eventually came home with three friends in a white pickup. The witnesses then said that upon
getting out of the truck, Hans was punched, Tasered and “swarmed” by a group on the front lawn and that they saw “blood everywhere.” The victim’s family emerged from the house, at which point Brar threw a lawn ornament at Hans’ brother Steve, but instead struck Hans’ mother in the forehead. Police arrived to find Hans collapsed on the lawn bleeding profusely. The slash from the murder weapon was forceful enough to completely sever Hans’ esophagus, trachea, and an artery to his head. see TRIAL, page A10
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