Manslaughter plea in Old Strathcona killing nets man 20-year sentence

A man who shot and killed a man four years ago in Old Strathcona was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to four charges.

Sean Jacob Lee Jennings, 31, pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter, reduced from seconddegree murder, in the death of Alor Arop Deng.

Jennings appeared in the prisoner box in a dark polo shirt and with a shaved head, seldom speaking but to enter four guilty pleas for charges unrelated to each other of manslaughter, break and enter to commit robbery, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and assault.

The Crown and defence entered a joint submission asking for a combined sentence of 20 years and credit for 1,982 days already served in custody.

Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Mary Moreau accepted the recommendation and sentenced Jennings to 20 years in prison for the four convictions, noting that the circumstances surrounding Deng ’s death were “volatile and explosive” and the crime “senseless.”

On July 20,2014, around 1:30 a.m ., Jennings shot Deng, 27, with a handgun after a “verbal altercation” erupted between the two over an “unknown issue from prior dealings,” according to an agreed statement of facts. Jennings and associates fled the scene at 81 Avenue between 104 Street and 105 Street. Deng suffered two gunshot wounds, one of which caused his death.

Victim impact statements from Deng ’s family, many of whom were present, were read to the court. His mother, Achol Dau Bilieu, described feeling isolated and blaming herself for bringing her family to Canada from Sudan.

“The heart has been ripped out of me,” the statement read.

In his final words to the court, Jennings apologized to the Deng family. His mother and family members were also present.

Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke told the court there had been a risk in taking the case to trial, which would rely on “unsavoury witnesses” alongside “some pieces” of confirmatory wiretap evidence.

The charges against Jennings are part of a complicated web of arrests made by various police departments in both British Columbia and Alberta.

“The Crown is satisfied this is a fit and appropriate sentence,” he said.

The agreed statement of facts also outlined three separate offences for which Jennings pleaded guilty.

On the evening of Oct. 31, 2014, Jennings and four other masked intruders, one with a firearm, broke into the southwest Edmonton home of Huu Nguyen searching for cash and other proceeds from drug trafficking. Nguyen was home with his wife and two children. He was tied up, beaten and forced into the rear of his minivan, which he escaped from at a red light. The minivan and approximately $4,000 of property were stolen.

On July 15,2014, around 2:30 a.m ., Jennings fired five rounds from a handgun into a business on Gateway Boulevard. He has a lifetime firearms prohibition from a 2009 conviction. On March 19, 2018, around 12:20 p.m., he assaulted another inmate in a holding cell at the Law Courts Building.