Three convictions in 2013 swarming death of Calgary teen
Posted Jun 16, 2016 12:39 pm.
Last Updated Jun 16, 2016 2:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After weeks of testimony and 80 witnesses, verdicts have been handed down in the high-profile swarming death of Lukas Strasser-Hird.
In November 2013, the 18-year-old was swarmed, beaten and stabbed outside of a nightclub and eventually died of his injuries.
Thursday afternoon, Assmar Shlah and Franz Cabrera were found guilty of the second-degree charges, while Joch Pouk was convicted on manslaughter.
A fourth man, Jordan Liao was found not guilty and let go, while the fifth charged in the death, Nathan Gervais, remains at large.
The victim’s father Dale Hird said he’s satisfied following the long ordeal .
“It’s relief, we’ve been waiting 12 hours a day the last three days across the street here and it’s been very, very hard,” he said.
The next court date will be August 5th, when a sentencing date will be set and while the second-degree charges carry lifetime sentences with no chance of parole for 10 to 25 years, Hird hopes it will be much higher than the minimum.
“What we feel would be good is a minimum of 18 years, that’s how old Lukas was when they took his life,” he said.
Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey said it was a just verdict.
“One of the accused was found not guilty, but our weakest case frankly was against him, so we are absolutely satisfied with this result,” he said.
However, the lawyer for Shlah, Balfour Der, said he was astounded by the decision.
“I cannot for the life of me fathom how we got to this place,” he said. “I have no clue how these people could actually come to this verdict.”
“He’s devastated, the boy’s in there crying, he says ‘I never touched the guy, I never touched him, how am I guilty of murder?'”
Der said if ever there was a case to appeal, it’s this one, calling the evidence against his client very poor.
