‘Devastated’: Mother of Surrey Six victim steels herself as killer gets new hearing

The mother of an innocent man killed in the Surrey Six slayings more than 15 years ago is steeling herself for a return to court after one of the convicted killers was granted the right to a new hearing.

Eileen Mohan’s 22-year-old son Christopher was on his way to play basketball with friends when he was gunned down in his apartment, along with five others, in one of B.C.’s worst episodes of gang violence.

“My first reaction was, oh my God, we’re going back to court again. I thought those days were over for me,” Mohan told Global News on Friday.

“I am quite devastated. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss Christopher … I’ll probably be dead and this case will not be resolved.”

Gangsters Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston were both found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy in 2014, seven years after the executions in a Surrey highrise on Oct. 19, 2007.

Upholding a 2021 B.C. Court of Appeal decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that Haevischer should have a chance to provide evidence related to allegations of police misconduct and solitary confinement. Johnston died of cancer last December.

The B.C. Court of Appeal had ruled that both men should be allowed to seek a stay in proceedings for abuse of process and ordered another hearing, but stopped short of overturning their guilty verdicts.

That Friday’s decision did not grant a stay in proceedings was “the only light at the end of this tunnel,” Mohan said.

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The trial for Johnston and Haevischer heard that the men entered the highrise with only one target — Corey Lal — but that Lal’s brother Michael Lal and associates Edward Narong and Ryan Bartolomeo were also in the apartment. Mohan’s son and repairman Ed Schelleberg were killed as bystanders.

Friday’s ruling comes after years of legal wrangling and controversy in the case, including revelations of drunken sexual escapades between police officers and female witnesses. Lawyers for both men claimed in submissions to the Supreme Court of Canada that their treatment in prison, coupled with outrageous police tactics and conduct during the investigation, warranted a stay of their convictions.

Crown prosecutors, however, told the Supreme Court that Johnston and Haevischer were on a “fishing expedition” in seeking a new hearing on fresh evidence “in the hope that they may dig up a nugget or two through cross-examination to support their application for a stay.”

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Mohan said it was a “misfortune” to have all the police officers who worked on the investigation “painted with the same brush” in Friday’s ruling. Many worked “very hard to bring justice for Christopher,” she added.

“It’s going to be very, very, difficult to comprehend what will come about this, because I feel like the criminals have a voice and our voices are so shut out by the Supreme Court,” Mohan said.

“Christopher cannot come from the grave site and say, ‘Hey, they stole my innocent life. I needed to be in this beautiful world.’ Besides the police officers, I don’t know who is standing up for our rights.”

Since the death of her son, Mohan has become a vocal advocate against gang and gun violence. Her hope is that the new hearing will be “swift” and any findings of police misconduct will not affect Haevischer’s sentence.

“These officers don’t have Christopher’s blood stains on their hands. These officers didn’t come and kill Christopher,” she said.

— with files from The Canadian Press