Man, 36, sentenced to 20 years for brutal slaying

A man who orchestrated a brutal beating that left a grandfather dead was handed a 20-year prison sentence Friday.

Suwastikh Kumar, 36, earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his role in the 2011 death of William Arthur Reid Hill.

After Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Donna Shelley granted Kumar credit for time served — he’s been in custody since his June 2011 arrest — he has 10 years and two months left in his sentence.

Several of Hill’s family members were in court for the sentencing hearing and entered victim impact statements about how his horrific death has affected them, and how he is remembered as a doting father and grandfather.

In a statement read out to the court by Crown prosecutor John Watson, Hill’s daughter, Stacey Legge, said when her two young children are doing activities, they often ask if their grandpa would do it with them if he was alive.

“It is absolutely heart-wrenching that this is a question a child even needs to ask,” Watson said.

Speaking after the hearing, Hill’s sister, Opal Hill, recalled a time at their family restaurant in Kinsella, Alta., when a customer ordered only a coffee, but her brother insisted on serving him a full breakfast because he knew the man didn’t have any money.

“He always put people first,” she said.

According to a statement of agreed facts, Hill, 57, had no fixed address at the time of his death and knew Kumar because he would occasionally perform tasks for him in exchange for money or drugs.

On June 20, 2011, Kumar became angry with Hill because he had let another man, Krishnil (Chris) Mani, use some crack cocaine they were supposed to be selling.

Angered, Kumar enlisted Mani to help him as Hill was tied up with electrical cords, blindfolded with a shirt and gagged in a second-floor room at a residence near 109 Avenue and 97 Street.

Hill was kicked in the face, had his foot smashed with a hammer and was strangled with electrical cords for several minutes. Then, while he was still alive, he was struck in the head with the hammer multiple times.

He was still alive when he was shoved in a cubby hole in the residence, where police discovered his body two days later.

Mani was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2015.

Watson and defence lawyer Brian Coleman made a joint submission on sentencing, although Coleman told the court his client was “on the verge of hallucinating ” during the attack.

Before hearing his sentence, Kumar stood and tearfully apologized to Hill’s family.

“I failed him as a friend. I failed my family. I failed society and I failed myself,” he said.