Killing associate over bad gun deal gets man minimum 12 years in prison

Fatally shooting a man for messing up an illegal gun purchase has landed a Calgary man a minimum 12 years behind bars.

Justice Craig Jones on Wednesday agreed with Crown prosecutor Tiffany Dwyer that Abdullah Mela’s murder of Calgarian Harsimran Birdi warranted an increase from the mandatory minimum parole ineligibility of 10 years.

But Jones said Mela’s relative youthfulness, his lack of a criminal record and family support — factors raised by defence lawyer Andrea Serink — meant the increase should be much less than what the prosecution sought.

In comparing Mela’s crime to that of Nelson Lugela, the man who killed Stampeder Mylan Hicks in 2016, Dwyer sought a minimum period without parole of 18 years.

The Court of Queen’s Bench judge agreed with Serink that the general rule in second-degree murder cases is to set parole ineligibility at 10 years.

But he said Mela’s crime, which comes with an automatic life sentence that could see him never released, warranted extra time.

Mela, 23, was convicted Jan. 27 of second-degree murder in the April 6, 2016, shooting death of Birdi, who bungled a deal to purchase a handgun on the killer’s behalf, leading to a $2,500 loss for Mela.

Jones noted Birdi offered to make things right, but Mela shot him as he sat in the back seat of an SUV before dumping his body in an alley.