Homeless man handed 91/2-year sentence for stabbing Good Samaritan who took him in

Brutally killing a Good Samaritan who had taken him in has landed a former homeless Calgary man a 9½-year prison term.

Agreeing with Crown prosecutor Jonathan Hak that the slaying of Calvin Brooker was a “near murder,” provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser said a sentence in excess of what the defence sought was warranted.

Defence counsel Markham Silver had suggested a prison term in the six- to eight-year range for Dennis Jan Sorge was warranted.

But Fraser rejected Silver’s submission that Brooker’s severe in- toxication on alcohol and drugs should be considered a mitigating factor in the case.

The judge also said Hak’s proposed range of 10 to 12 years was excessive.

Sorge, 33, pleaded guilty in May to manslaughter in the Sept. 1, 2016, stabbing death of Brooker, 57.

Brooker, who stood four-foot-10 and weighed 108 pounds, had taken Sorge into the southeast Calgary home he shared with his elderly mother, Marjorie.

Despite Brooker’s kindness, his 95-year-old mother was not happy with Sorge’s presence in the home.

The night of Aug. 31, 2016, Sorge had been drinking heavily and consuming narcotics.

After arriving home from work late in the evening, Brooker visited with his mother, who occupied the main floor of the residence, before retiring in the early morning to his basement suite, vowing to talk to Sorge about moving out.

Brooker’s mother heard the two men arguing downstairs before things got quiet and she went to sleep.

At some point, an argument ensued and became physical and Sorge grabbed a knife and repeatedly stabbed Brooker, before wrapping the body in a bed sheet and hiding it under a bush in the back alley.

Fraser said there were multiple facts he had to consider, including “the physical nature of the act, the choice of weapon, the degree of force, the extent of the victim’s injuries, the degree of violence, or brutality and the degree of deliberation involved.

“With the exception of the last factor, there could hardly be a more brutal and violent crime,” the judge said.

Fraser noted Sorge stabbed and slashed Brooker 53 times as the victim frantically tried to protect himself.