VANCOUVER – A series of firebombings and targeted shootings aimed at people who were thought to have a connection to a justice training centre in the Vancouver area has left the victims traumatized, a Crown attorney said Friday.
Joe Bellows read nine victim impact statements in B.C. Supreme Court at a sentencing hearing for Vincent Cheung, who pleaded guilty Thursday to 18 of 23 charges stemming from the attacks in 2011 and 2012 including several counts of arson and firearms offences.
Bellows said the son an 85-year-old woman who was the victim of arson reported: “Her remaining years will be lived in continuous fear as a result of this crime.”
READ MORE: Langley man pleads guilty to 18 charges in Justice Institute attacks
Another victim who endured shots fired at her vehicle and home stated that months after the incident, her husband “suffered a life-threatening heart attack due to anxiety and emotional suffering” and has been diagnosed with clinical depression, Bellows said.
Many of the victims reported emotional trauma, depression and sleep deprivation, he added.
The court has heard that Cheung, 43, of Langley, targeted 15 families throughout the Lower Mainland.
An agreed statement of facts read in court said Cheung focused on the families after tracking down their homes with information obtained from licence plates of vehicles parked at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, including a corrections officer and members of a church group who used its parking lot.
The Crown asked for a sentence of 15 years in prison, and the defence recommended 10 years.
Cheung’s lawyer, Martin Peters, read from a written apology by his client that stated: “I had fallen into substance abuse and had just gone nuts.”
Addressing the court, Cheung then said, “I understand my actions are very wrong. I’m sorry for what I’ve done.”
The court was adjourned until Wednesday, when Cheung will be sentenced.
Bellows told the court earlier that the Crown wants the harsher sentence of 15 years plus pre-trial custody on the grounds that Cheung displayed a “determined and sustained effort to attack and terrorize.”
The Crown presented nine factors including the number of offences, duration and geography of the attacks, repeated victimization of some families and financial costs as rational for the longer sentence.
Bellows said reports of Cheung’s mental-health challenges, substance abuse and paranoia are not mitigating factors.
“Whatever his mental health issues at the time fall far below any legal criteria for a defence. There are, unfortunately, thousands of Canadians who suffer from mental health issues who never commit a criminal act,” he said.
“He chose not to help himself, not to seek help, but rather to abuse drugs.”
Cheung’s lawyer took exception to the Crown’s characterization of his client’s drug abuse.
“He chose to take drugs, that is far too simplistic of a description,” Peters said.
“No one chooses to be an addict.”
Peters told the court Cheung’s history of drug and alcohol addiction began with the loss of close friends and relatives, and confirmed Cheung was consuming substances at the time of the attacks.
A roommate of Cheung’s told investigators that they were consuming up to $30,000 a month of heroin and she believed Cheung was suffering from psychosis as a result, Peters said.
The time in federal prison will allow Cheung access to addictions treatment programs and help ensure his long term recovery, Peters said outside the court.
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