Accused guilty of using rock to kill a man in a wheelchair
A Vancouver man has been convicted of using a rock to murder a man who was confined to a wheelchair.
On Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper found Aaron Dale Power guilty of the April 2009 second-degree murder of Michael Nestoruk, 42.
The victim’s body was found in some bushes near Sir Guy Carleton Elementary School at Joyce Street and Kingsway Avenue, the same location where he was partly paralyzed in his teens when he fell off the school’s roof.
Nestoruk’s wheelchair was located in a long-jump sand pit and there were what appeared to be blood pools and drag marks from the pit to the location of the body.
Initially Power came to the attention of police when it was revealed that he was in the company of Nestoruk on the day before the slaying. The two men had been using crack cocaine together.
A reward was offered for information about the murder, with police withholding information that the rock was the suspected murder weapon, but nothing came of it and police did not have enough evidence to lay charges.
But an undercover police operation was launched in early 2014 which resulted in Power confessing that he had committed the slaying, using a rock to strike Nestoruk over the head.
The accused challenged the admissibility of the confession, arguing that Power was taken advantage of due to his addiction and health problems, but the judge rejected those arguments.
The Crown’s theory was that Power’s motive for killing Nestoruk was that he wanted to rob him and that he collected a good-sized rock to carry out the murder.
The defence argued that there was no direct evidence to suggest Power had any intention to kill Nestoruk, who was known as “Wheels” to some, and that Power struck the victim with the rock in reaction to an attempt by Nestoruk to stab him.
In her ruling, the judge said that she was unsure of exactly what transpired in the moments before Nestoruk’s death.
She said she did not believe Power’s statement to the undercover officers that Nestoruk had a knife and was threatening him before he used the rock to kill him.
The judge also said she was not satisfied with the Crown’s theory on the motive.
She said however that she had no reasonable doubt that Power struck Nestoruk with the rock on more than one occasion and that the blows were aimed at the head, which was “compelling” evidence of the accused’s intent.
The victim’s physical characteristics also played an important role in drawing inferences, said Gropper.
“The victim had one leg. He was confined to a wheelchair. Power had two working legs. Power was in a position to leave the area quickly. The victim wasn’t.
“In this case, Power’s actions were amplified by the physical characteristics of the victim that rendered him helpless and vulnerable.”
Power’s lawyer argued that his client was acting in self-defence and was provoked in addition to being intoxicated but the judge rejected those arguments.
The accused had little reaction to the verdict. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison with a parole ineligibility period of between 10 and 25 years.
The issue on sentencing will be the parole ineligibility period. After the judge rendered her verdict, she put the case over to Jan. 4 to set a date for sentencing.