Convicted teen’s threats to witness in swarming death are relevant: judge
Evidence that a teen convicted in the swarming death of Luka Gordic in Whistler threatened a Crown witness has been admitted for the sentencing hearing of the killer.
Arvin Golic was 18 when Gordic, 19, was surrounded by a group of youths and stabbed to death in May 2015. Golic and Gordic were among a group of Burnaby teens partying in Whistler during the long weekend to celebrate graduation.
In June this year, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries found Golic guilty of one count of manslaughter. He had initially been charged with second-degree murder.
The judge found that Golic, who participated in the attack by punching Gordic, had a motive to cause the victim harm, namely that he was angry because Gordic had told a friend of the accused that it was known that Golic was abusive to Golic’s former girlfriend.
Sentencing for Golic was to begin Sept. 13, but before submissions could begin, the Crown sought to have evidence that Golic had on June 6, 2016 threatened his former girlfriend, Devon Luksic, admitted at the sentencing hearing.
Court heard that the evidence of the threat consisted of a transcript of a tape recording of a complaint to police made by Luksic, who subsequently testified at the Golic trial, as well as a screen shot of a text message alleged to be from Golic to Luksic, sent the same day.
According to the transcript, Luksic told police that she had received a call from Golic that morning in which he said to her, “Hey, you stupid bitch, you know it’s me.”
She then stated that he started saying she had been seeing another guy that he knows and that he had a beef with that guy.
Luksic told Golic to stop contacting her and he responded by saying, “No f--- you, I’m gonna kill you and everyone you talk to.”
Later that day, Luksic received what the judge termed a “placatory and somewhat affectionate” text from Golic saying he was sorry, wanted the best for her, asking her to call him one last time and she would never hear from him again, and saying she stabbed him in the back like no one ever could.
Contact between Golic and Luksic was forbidden by the terms of the accused’s bail and after the report was made, a charge of threatening was laid against him and his bail was revoked. Luksic began her three days of testimony at Golic’s trial in March.
Golic’s lawyer denied that the phone call took place, but was content to deal with the merits of the evidence through the transcript. He argued that the court should exercise its discretion and not admit the evidence of the threat because it didn’t shed light on the circumstances of the offence and had no similarity to the crime and would unduly prolong the hearing.
But the Crown said while the evidence was not an aggravating factor and could not be used to increase Golic’s sentence, its relevance was high because it went to the issues of insight and remorse and was highly germane to the issue of rehabilitation.
In a ruling released Wednesday, the judge agreed with the Crown that the evidence was generally relevant and could go to the issue of character and lack of remorse and may be relevant to the issue of rehabilitation.
She said the defence may convince her at the sentencing hearing, scheduled for Oct. 17, that Luksic’s past record for truthfulness was such that she should not accept that the call occurred as Luksic reported it and should not rely on the evidence.
A verdict for three youths also charged in the fatal attack on Gordic is expected Sept. 25.