Man gets eight years for stabbing

After killing friend, he tried to drain victim’s account

Fatally stabbing his friend and then “depositing ” his body in the home of his victim’s upstairs neighbour has landed a Calgary man an eightyear prison term.

Justice Earl Wilson on Thursday said Shane Baum’s conduct, both in killing Jason Dirks and then trying to drain his victim’s bank account as he lay dying, warranted such a sentence.

The Court of Queen’s Bench judge also noted a psychiatric assessment suggested Baum posed a future risk to the public.

“Here the dominating sentencing principals are deterrence and denunciation and, as well, a need to protect the public given the (psychiatric) report, I find a fit sentence to be eight years,” Wilson said.

Baum, 42, pleaded guilty last September to a reduced charge of manslaughter. He had originally been charged with second-degree murder in the June 9, 2018, death of Dirks, 46.

Defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli had argued an appropriate punishment would be seven years, while Crown prosecutors Sonya Bertrand and Janice Walsh proposed a range of nine to 12 years.

Wilson agreed with the prosecutors that there were multiple aggravating factors in the case, but dismissed their suggestion he should find Baum was the instigator.

The judge noted the two friends often engaged in physical altercations, despite the diminutive Dirks, who was five feet three inches tall and 126 pounds, being much smaller than the six-foot, 180-pound Baum.

According to a statement of agreed facts, one of Dirks’ upstairs neighbours heard who she believed to be the deceased say “please, please, please,” followed by loud stomping and banging on her door around 1:30 a.m.

“I find that the accused dragged the victim up the stairs, kicked the door open and dropped the victim on the floor,” Wilson said.

The neighbours called 911 “while the accused left the suite and made a beeline to the Mac’s store ATM a short distance away,” the judge said.

Baum unsuccessfully attempted to draw money from Dirks’ account with the victim’s bank card, and then proceeded to another ATM where he did an empty envelope deposit for $5,000 before several other failed attempts at withdrawals.

The judge noted the victim had multiple injuries, both from being stabbed, including a fatal blow to his chest that cut into his heart, and from being struck with a broken shovel handle and with fists.

“The violence … was neither brief in duration nor in scope of its infliction,” Wilson said.

He said Baum’s claim in the psychiatric report that he only took Dirks’ bank card to withdraw $20 for cab fare seemed “far-fetched and self-serving ” given his attempt to fraudulently deposit $5,000 into the account.

With credit for remand time, Baum has another five years and one month to serve.