James Louie given life sentence

CALGARY – A Calgary father who brutally killed his two children then tried to strangle his estranged wife who was leaving him will go to prison for life with no chance of parole for 18 years.

In imposing the sentence on James Bing Jun Louie on Tuesday, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Earl Wilson recalled how the children — Jason, 13, and Jane, 9 — must have been terrified in the moments leading up to their deaths.

"These children were killed in their own house, the one place in the world where children should feel safe," Wilson said. I’m satisfied both children must have realized what was occurring and wondering why their father was doing what he did.

"Jason was killed in his own bed. He said to his dad, ‘why are you doing this?’ The only saving grace was this murder must have been brief."

Wilson said even though Louie, 44, had time to reflect after the first murder, he still went to another part of the house to kill the other child.

"Neither time nor distance prevented him from his chosen path," added Wilson, who last month convicted Louie of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of the children and attempted murder of his wife Ying Tang in their northwest Calgary home on Nov. 27, 2009.

The judge also gave Louie a concurrent life sentence for almost killing Tang, whom he said has suffered the most. He also noted if not for quick-acting police officers, her husband would have completely obliterated the family.

"This case is about control, about a man who in effect saw his family leaving him and they would have left him alone," said Wilson. "He’s a man whose life was only to raise his children. He had nothing outside the family."

Defence lawyer Noel O’Brien, who had unsuccessfully argued to have his client found not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder, said he was content with the sentence under the circumstances.

"I think the sentence was fair. I’m happy he will spend time in a psychiatric facility," said O’Brien, who had argued for life with no parole for 14 to 15 years.

"We would have been happy to get a sentence of around 15 years (parole ineligibility), but 18 is certainly fair. I would not recommend an appeal on that one."

O’Brien, however, said despite the judge’s decision on the convictions, his client’s "mental state is not good."

"Once he settles into the facility, they will work with him. Prison is not good for rehabilitation for someone with a mental problem.

"Hopefully he will get help in a mental facility. I anticipate he’ll be assessed soon, within 90 days, and that he’ll go to Saskatoon (Regional Psychiatric Centre). People with Corrections Canada taken care of that."

O’Brien also said he is considering an appeal on the second-degree murder convictions.

"We’ll look at the long term and the effect on his mental condition of having to do it again in a second trial," the lawyer said.

"I think there were some errors made (in the judgment), but whether that’s worth pursuing, I’ll decide in 30 days."

Crown prosecutor Bev Bauer, who had sought the maximum sentence of life without parole for 25 years, declined comment outside court.

She had argued at a sentencing hearing that it a "brutal, callous offence" in the context of a marriage breakdown in which very vulnerable members of society were slain.

"He killed one, then the other child -one after another," Bauer told Wilson last month.

"They were in trust of their father. One of the most trusted relationships is between a parent and a child. Contrast that with the act of killing the children, who were dependent on him, trusted him and were unarmed. It was cowardly and callous and the children did nothing to cause this act."

Both children were asphyxiated by their father. Jason was strangled with a two-metre-long yellow rope, his sister likely suffocated with a pillow.

Hours later Louie tried to kill Ying Tang, his estranged wife, with the same rope he used on their son.

He was given a concurrent life sentence for nearly killing her, as well.

Tang was in court for the sentencing, but left the building without making any comment.

She told court in her victim impact statement last time that Louie’s convictions last month brought some order and sense of justice to her life, but it will never bring her children back.

She said since her children were "brutally and cold-bloodedly murdered by their biological father," she has lost her bright outlook on life and her focus on work and her goal to achieve financial prosperity.

"It was an unspeakable and excruciatingly painful experience that I wish no loving parent should ever endure," she said.

"No parent should ever experience this trauma I’m fighting every day. Children are innocent. They are our angels and hopes. Children are not our possessions. They should be loved and protected unconditionally in the first place at all costs."

Louie, who never showed much emotion throughout the trial and sentencing process, shed a tear as he spoke to court when previously given a chance to do so by the judge.

"This has happened. I have affected everybody," Louie said through an interpreter. "I don’t know how to put anything else in words. I can’t speak now."

Louie must provide a DNA sample and is prohibited from owning or possessing weapons for life.