A B.C. Supreme Court justice has sentenced two men to jail after a jury previously found them guilty of manslaughter in a stabbing on Nanaimo's waterfront two and a half years ago.
Fred Parsons, 29, was stabbed to death at Maffeo Sutton Park the night of Sept. 5, 2022. Mark Jayden Harrison, 21, and Aiden Matthew Bell, 21, were subsequently charged with second-degree murder, but found guilty of manslaughter by a 12-person jury in August. At B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo on Tuesday, Feb. 18, justice Robin Baird rendered a decision that Harrison and Bell each be imprisoned for eight years.
Harrison was previously taken into custody and will receive 1,344 days credit.
Crown counsel Nick Barber sought seven to nine years imprisonment, while Gloria Ng and Stephanie Head sought four to five years for their client Bell, and Bobby Movassaghi four years for Harrison.
Baird didn’t see a lesser sentence as appropriate. On all the evidence, both offenders in their separate ways, particularly Harrison, constitute an enduring danger to the public and a significant risk to re-offend, he said and a hefty sentence must be imposed to register the court’s strong condemnation of the pair’s misconduct and provide some sense of reparation to Parsons’ family.
At the same time, Baird pointed out that there were mitigating factors related to the two. Harrison born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Further his mother died in a car accident when he was 17, and he was unable to attend the funeral because he was in juvenile detention. It affected him negatively, Baird said.
Bell’s father was addicted to drugs and died of an overdose in 2022. He was diagnosed with a severe and complicated case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
According to testimony, Parsons and two companions were at a playground area in the park playing on the swings close to midnight when approached by a group including the accused. Despite being pestered, Parsons' group would not reveal their names to Harrison and Bell. An altercation occurred, where bear spray was deployed by Harrison, and Parsons was stabbed by Bell, according to Crown.
Prior to the incident, there had been a separate harassment incident at a downtown Nanaimo parkade and Harrison and Bell were among those seen in video surveillance walking toward Maffeo Sutton Park and running back to the parkade after. Crown counsel contended the stabbing occurred within that time frame.
Crown also alleged Harrison told another group at the parkade that they had stabbed somebody, and Crown also argued Harrison and Bell were the only two to run when police arrived at the parkade. Bell was arrested 15 minutes after the stabbing and his jacket had Parsons's blood on it, though a knife in his possession did not. Harrison was seen fleeing and tossing a black bag into the water. Police were able to retrieve the bag and bear spray and Harrison's ID were found.
Crown contends that Harrison dispersed the bear spray, while Bell stabbed Parsons.
Defence said the blood on Bell's jacket suggested only that he was present during the assault, and that descriptions of the perpetrators didn't match Bell and Harrison.
In a statement to the media, Parsons’s mother, whose name is protected under a publication ban, took no joy with Baird’s decision. There are no winners, she said, and the sentence won’t bring her son back.
“I am relieved that this ugly chapter is over and our family can grieve and heal … Our family hopes the offenders will learn to live with the helpfulness and respect that were Fred’s truths,” she wrote. “That would be how they might begin to pay back their debt to him.”
As Baird’s sentence was within the range sought by Crown, Barber was satisfied with jail term and was grateful to effort of police.
“The RCMP did an incredible job,” said Barber. “They did what they always do, which is grind away and sometimes it takes a long time to gather all of this evidence and put it in a proper format that is understandable to a jury, so everyone did their job properly.”
Melanie Cadden, manager of the Coco Café while Parsons was employed there, said she’s glad this chapter is closing.
“I miss him, but he's with us, and he's looking over us,” Cadden said. “I felt the calm with his family and friends, just knowing that this is coming to an end in the next stage of starting.”
The trial ran from late July to early August in Nanaimo and sentencing began on Jan. 21.
