Relatives of ‘Surrey Six’ victims confront gang leader in B.C. court
VANCOUVER Almost 13 years after Red Scorpion gang leader Jamie Bacon set in motion B.C.’S worst gangland slaughter, relatives of two of his victims got to confront him face to face in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday.
Jourdane Lal wept on the witness stand as she described how her family’s life was destroyed the day of the Surrey Six murders, which left her two brothers Corey and Michael, along with four others, dead on the floor of a penthouse apartment.
“You decided which mothers didn’t deserve to watch their children grow. You decided which fathers would lose their bloodline,” she said as Bacon sat motionless a few metres away. “You decided which children did not deserve uncles in their lives.”
She said her brothers “did not die in peace. They died in panic and fear.
“I have been told time heals everything, and here I am still waiting.”
Eileen Mohan’s voice also broke throughout her heartbreaking statement, as she described how happy her life was before her son Christopher was grabbed by the killers on Oct. 19, 2007, as he left their family apartment.
“Who do you think you are to decide who lives and who dies?” she said.
“It is a torture to live the way I am living. Christopher did not have to die this way.”
Last month, Bacon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Corey Lal in a plot that spiralled out of control and resulted in the deaths of Lal, his older brother Michael, associates Ryan Bartolomeo and Eddie Narong, as well as Christopher Mohan and Ed Schellenberg, who were both bystanders.
The 35-year-old gangster also pleaded guilty to counselling someone to kill Red Scorpion member Dennis Karbovenec on New Year’s Eve 2008.
Prosecutor Mark Wolf read an agreed statement of facts for each case to Justice Kathleen Ker, who said she will hand down the sentence on Sept. 11.
Bacon was so angry that Corey Lal had asked one of his drug dealers to join Lal’s gang that he first taxed his rival $100,000, then decided to kill him, Wolf said.
After Lal failed to pay the tax, “Bacon ultimately decided that Corey Lal had to be killed,” he said.
He wanted to “send a message that the Red Scorpions were not to be defied.”
In a joint submission, Crown and defence lawyers proposed a sentence of 18 years for Bacon, minus just more than 12 years credit for his time in pretrial custody.
Prosecutor Bob Wright said an 18-year term on the conspiracy and a concurrent 10-year sentence on the counselling charge are in line with sentences in similar gang cases.
Bacon’s lawyer Kevin Westell said his client is taking responsibility for his crimes after spending most of his adult life behind bars.
And he said Bacon was traumatized both by the murder of his brother and the overdose death of his girlfriend in 2017.
“After serving the remainder of his time in custody in relation to these charges, Mr. Bacon hopes to plan and move above and beyond the criminal lifestyle that has characterized his adult life to this point,” Westell said.