Ten years after tattoo store owner Wasfi Ghalban was fatally stabbed in a home invasion robbery inside his Wellesley Street apartment, Lance Burkhard, one of two men responsible for the deadly scuffle, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday.
The guilty plea comes eight months after the Court of Appeal overturned Burkhard’s conviction for first-degree murder and ordered a new trial.
Ontario’s highest court found the trial judge failed to properly instruct the jury. Burkhard has been behind bars since his arrest on March 31, 2016, and was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder in December 2018.
Burkhard had been serving life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Second-degree murder means a parole ineligibility period between 10 and 25 years. Defence lawyers John Struthers and Deniz Sarikaya are asking for an 11-year period before parole ineligibility, whereas Crown prosecutor Scott Patterson is suggesting 15 years.
According to an agreed statement of facts, it was Dec. 1, 2014, when Ghalban, 47, was stabbed to death inside his apartment at 200 Wellesley St. E.
Four men were charged with first-degree murder at the time. Philip Frauts organized the robbery and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Christopher Fuller was the lookout and also pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Lance Burkhard and Kyle Schindermann entered Ghalban’s apartment and participated in his murder. Schindermann testified against Burkhard at trial and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for at least 11 years.
The court heard previously Ghalban had a side job making fake identification for $50 to $60 each inside Ultimate Tattoos, his Yonge Street business. According to the facts in the case, Ghalban sometimes made 40 or 50 fake IDs in a day and kept the cash he made in his apartment.
In the fall of 2014, Frauts worked for Ghalban as a tattoo artist and gave half the money he made tattooing customers to Ghalban to cover rent and business expenses.
Frauts knew about the fake IDs and became disgruntled and planned to rob Ghalban of the illegal cash kept in Ghalban’s apartment. The court previously heard Frauts also knew that a large quantity of cash had been taken from Ghalban’s apartment on a previous occasion and Ghalban didn’t report it to police.
Frauts asked Schindermann, a longtime customer, about his plan. He told Schindermann that Ghalban was cheap and he would not turn on the heat in the winter because he did not want to pay the bill.
Frauts, not wanting to commit the robbery himself because he was afraid of being identified, convinced Schindermann to carry out the robbery.
Schindermann, who had done a home invasion before and owed money to drug dealers, enlisted Burkhard to assist. He knew Burkhard had experience. Burkhard recruited Fuller to act as the lookout.
On the day of the robbery, Burkhard and Schindermann executed the planned home invasion robbery of Ghalban. There was no plan to kill him. Burkhard brought a broken BB gun. Schindermann brought a knife.
According to the court, the pair entered the building and split up on their way to the second floor.
They waited outside Ghalban’s apartment and Fuller called to tell them when Ghalban was on his way.
Ghalban was ambushed at the door of his apartment and forced to go inside. During a scuffle, Ghalban managed to get onto the balcony and call for help.
Ghalban was later stabbed in the neck, wounding the jugular vein. Schindermann punched Ghalban in the face and started to choke him while Burkhard searched the apartment for money.
As Ghalban was losing consciousness, Schindermann put one knee on Ghalban’s back and put on zip tie handcuffs.
As Schindermann held Ghalban on the living room floor, Burkham searched the apartment for money. He filled up two backpacks with illegal cash.
At one point, Burkhard got frustrated because he was having trouble finding money. He threatened Ghalban and kicked him. Ghalban did not really move after Burkhard kicked him.
Burkhard then took over Schindermann’s position holding Ghalban down while Schindermann cleaned up in the bathroom. The two men fled, stealing $162,000 which was split equally between them.
“Mr. Burkhard had the required mens rea for second-degree murder. While he and Mr. Schindermann had no intention to kill Wasfi Ghalban upon arriving at his apartment, it was during the course of the robbery that they formed the necessary intent for second degree murder,” Patterson told the court in the agreed statement of facts.
“Knowing that Mr. Ghalban had been grievously injured from the stab to the neck while effecting their common unlawful purpose to rob him, Mr. Burkhard continued to participate in numerous assaults on Wasfi Ghalban.”
According to the facts, Burkhard was a party to causing bodily harm he knew was likely to cause death and was reckless as to whether death ensued. Ghalban’s died from a stab wound to the neck.
During his elocution to the court, Burkhard apologized to Ghalban’s family, calling his actions senseless. “If I could go back in time, I would make things different. I think of that night quite often and it haunts me constantly.”
Justice Kelly will deliver her decision on a period of parole ineligibility in January.