WARNING: Some details in this story may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
A man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a woman in 2018 will be eligible to apply for parole in 15 years.
The charge of second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence.
Nicole Hasselmann, who was also known as Nicole Porciello, died after being thrown from a vehicle on the Barnet Highway in Burnaby on Nov. 16, 2018.
She was rushed to hospital but later died of her injuries.
At the time, Burnaby RCMP said they found an unconscious man in the vehicle. Hasselmann was found in a ditch several metres away.
On Nov. 29, 2018, then-31-year-old Jan Poepl was arrested and later charged with second-degree murder in Hasselmann’s death.
The pair had been dating on and off for seven years.
In court in March, it was revealed Poepl stabbed Hasselmann 47 times in a rental car. He then recorded a video of himself with Hasselmann still alive in the background and then called his brother twice.
He then drove home, leaving Hasselmann in the car outside while he went in and sent some emails, one resigning from his job.
The court heard Poepl returned to the car and intentionally drove it into a light pole on the Barnet Highway.
Hasselmann was a support worker for students with special needs at Templeton Secondary. Colleagues said they remembered her as being kind and committed to her students.
She left behind a young son who was 10 at the time of her death.
In the ruling, the judge called Poepl’s actions “callous, cruel and self-absorbed” but also said he has demonstrated remorse.
Hasselmann’s father, Giuseppe, did not agree.
“It made me sick to my stomach because if he was remorseful he would have showed a tear in his eye,” he said outside court. “He would show any upsetting. He looked like he was out for lunch when he came in last time in the courtroom.”
Hasselmann’s cousin Gina Luliano said she was disappointed in the ruling.
“In 15 years he’s actually eligible to be walking the streets,” she said. “Is that what we want to tell our community?”
“I’m trying to understand what it takes to get a life sentence in Canada based on the horrific circumstances of what happened to Nicole.”
In court in mid-March, Hasselmann’s family read victim impact statements about how her passing has left a huge hole in their hearts and their lives.
“I just want to say one thing and one thing only,” Giuseppe said outside court March 10. “He didn’t just kill my daughter. He killed my entire family.”
“And I hope one day, I know in this life he won’t pay for it, but when he goes up there, God will punish him for what he’s done to my beautiful daughter.”
Hasselmann’s best friend, Ashley Engleson, told reporters Nicole was kind and “truly beautiful inside and out.”
“My heart feels so broken from the loss of her that I hope that one day I can make her proud again by being the beautiful person she loved too,” Engleson said.
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