Mere months after being released from prison and pledging to remain on a better path, a Kelowna man convicted in a 2014 killing has been arrested again.
Steven Pirko has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon and breaching his release conditions relating to an incident in September. He was in court this week on the charge and will appear again Nov. 7.
For the breach charge, court records indicate he is back in custody.
In 2023, Pirko was convicted of the 2014 manslaughter death of Chris Ausman. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, but because he had already been in custody for more than nine years, he was released on three years probation. He left physical custody four months ago.
In 2020, he had been found guilty of murder in Ausman’s death. A murder conviction carries a stiffer sentence, but the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the conviction due to mistakes made by the sentencing judge.
In the appeal, Pirko’s lawyer told the court it should focus its attention on Pirko’s rehabilitation. Pirko, he said, has become and stayed sober since his incarceration has finished Grade 8 and Grade 9, and was at that time working toward finishing Grade 10.
“Mr. Pirko does not need to be separated from society anymore,” the court was told.
In January 2014, Pirko and a friend, Elrick Dyck, mouthed off at Ausman, and, in turn, Ausman engaged Dyck in a physical fight.
When Dyck was overpowered, he called upon Pirko for some help, and the then-21-year-old hit Ausman in the head at least two times with a hammer.