The second man accused of impersonating a police officer during a home invasion that left a Vancouver senior dead three years ago has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Pascal Bouthillette was initially charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 31, 2021, death of 78-year-old Usha Singh. On Monday, the first day of his trial, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker has scheduled sentencing submissions to begin on Friday.
Ker also ruled that a statement Bouthillette made to police after his arrest was not admissible as evidence.
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Sandy Parisian, who was also involved in the deadly attack, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year and was sentenced to seven years in prison in March. He will serve four more years after credit for time served.
Security video and evidence presented in court showed how the two men arrived at Singh’s home near Queen Elizabeth Park just before 6 a.m., wearing jackets bearing the word “police.”
Footage submitted by the Crown in Parisian’s case showed the pair rummaging through her living room.
Singh’s neighbour, who had installed the security camera, realized something was wrong around 10 a.m. when he saw it had been repositioned and called police.
Police found Singh unconscious and “severely beaten” on her bathroom floor shortly after 11 a.m., with a zip tie around one of her wrists according to the sentencing judgment in Parisian’s case.
She later died in hospital.
Parisian was not actively involved in Singh’s beating, Justice Ker found in his March sentencing, but didn’t try to help her either.
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