The father of a man convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for killing an Armstrong girl has admitted to helping his son in connection with the crime.
Stephen Roy Foerster, 60, pleaded guilty Wednesday to being an accessory to the murder of 18-year-old Taylor Van Diest on Halloween night 2011.
The senior Foerster knew Matthew Foerster was the killer.
But he lied to police about his son’s whereabouts, saying Matthew was working the rigs in northern Alberta when he was hiding out in Ontario.
He also bought Matthew fake identification and gave him advice on how to avoid being captured.
The judge reluctantly agreed to a joint recommendation by the Crown and defence lawyers that Foerster be sentenced to three years imprisonment.
“Mr. Foerster must have known young ladies in Ontario were being put at risk. He knew Matthew was a stone cold killer. For all Stephen Foerster knew, Matthew was going to kill again. That really bothers me,” said Mr. Justice Peter Rogers.
The murder victim’s mother was hoping for a five year sentence, calling both Foersters cowards and deviants who have no place in society.
“If I knew my child had done something that horrific, that heinous, I couldn’t live with myself knowing they’re out there loose and a ticking time bomb. I couldn’t do that,” says Marie Van Diest.
Matthew Foerster, 28, faces two further trials at the end of the year.
They relate to attacks on a Cherryville teenager in 2004 and a woman in Kelowna in 2005.
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