Brian Cheng pleaded guilty last September to manslaughter in connection with the Jan. 9, 2008 shooting death of Allan Richard Teather
Article content
For years, Calgarian Brian Cheng lived an exemplary life while he kept a deadly past hidden.
Article content
That all came crashing down for him 2 1/2 years ago when he was arrested for the 2008 murder of a city drug dealer.
On Monday Cheng’s fall from grace was completed when provincial court Judge Terry Semenuk accepted a joint Crown and defence submission for a five-year prison term.
With credit for a short stint of pre-trial custody and onerous bail conditions, Cheng will have to serve another four years and eight months, Semenuk said.
Cheng’s lawyer, Noel O’Brien said that while his client was once heavily involved in the drug trade, he has long since left that world behind him to become a contributing member of society, working as a fitness club manager and known for his heavy involvement in multiple voluntary endeavours.
Article content
“His volunteer work has been somewhat astonishing considering the dark side he lived on for a number of years,” O’Brien said. “His friends were shocked on his arrest.”
Cheng, 37, pleaded guilty last September to manslaughter in connection with the Jan. 9, 2008 shooting death of Calgarian Allan Richard Teather. He had been charged with first-degree murder.
According to a statement of agreed facts made an exhibit by Crown prosecutors Brian Holtby and Katherine Love, Cheng was a member of a criminal “network” which trafficked cocaine.
Teather also sold the drug, but was not part of Cheng’s criminal organization.
In December of 2007, two kilograms of cocaine went missing from a safe controlled by the network and Teather was suspected to have stolen it.
Article content
On Jan. 8, 2008, Teather told Cheng he had three kilograms for sale and the offender arranged for a purchase in a residential parkade in the city’s southwest.
But instead of being met by a buyer, Teather was met by another member of the network who repeatedly shot him and took the drugs.
While Cheng didn’t know Teather would be shot, he knew his unnamed accomplice would be armed with a handgun for the purpose of robbing him.
Holtby said that while Cheng turned his life around, Teather was never given that chance.
“Mr. Teather has been denied the opportunity … to put that life behind him in the same way that Mr. Cheng has been able to,” Holtby said.
The prosecutor also noted that Cheng has never identified the killer and his presumed getaway driver.
“Mr. Cheng has not assisted the authorities in bringing those people to justice,” he said.
Before passing sentence, Semenuk heard a victim impact statement from Teather’s mother, Andria.
“We can’t comprehend why or how Allan entered a world so foreign to us, a world that you clearly entered too,” she told Cheng.
“That world steals away the potential that people like Allan had. Your actions, your decisions, led him to his death and robbed a family of the opportunity to help and support him when he needed us more than ever.”
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
Calgary man sentenced to five years for role in deadly drug ripoff 14 years ago - Calgary Herald
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment