Truemors
Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
Certainly a life sentence deserving of the crime.
Perhaps a Message that should be applied here by our Justice System here in British Columbia, but won't be, as Drugs and Murder in British Columbia happen so often it has pretty much numbed the citizens here and seemingly complacent judges who do not seem to care either way.
After 12 weeks, 160 exhibits, and 39 witnesses, a jury yesterday found Shant Esrabian guilty of first-degree murder.
Justice Albert Roy sentenced Esrabian, 30, to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years for the brutal slaying of drug dealer Hussein El-Hajj Hassan on Aug. 20, 2004.
Esrabian was sentenced to an additional two years for contempt of court.
The contempt conviction stems from Esrabian's refusal to confirm or deny on the stand whether witness Paul "Sasquatch" Porter -- who lead investigator Sgt. Greg Brown testified is president of the Hells Angels in Ontario -- was his alibi for when the Crown says he was digging El-Hajj Hassan's grave.
Esrabian testified he spent the afternoon of Aug. 20, 2004, trying to recover $2 million in stolen pot plants for "someone powerful."
El-Hajj Hassan's body was discovered in a shallow grave near a wooded pathway in the city's west end a year after his murder. He was found in a crouching position with his boxer shorts around his ankles.
He had been shot through the heart and stomach, his skull had been crushed and his right forearm had been hacked off. While the forearm was buried near his body, the hand was never found.
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