STRIPPER’S BLOODY VALENTINE
Gangster’s girlfriend handed conditional sentence for actions that led to shooting
She was lured into a lifestyle of girlfriends and bad guys, meeting and falling in love with a gangster while she worked as an exotic dancer.
Nicola Cottrell, now 31, fell under the spell of UN gang member Barzan Tilli-Choli during a 10-month relationship that resulted in her taking actions that led to a shooting outside a Surrey strip club.
Cottrell, who on Wednesday pleaded guilty to assault in connection with the shooting and received a conditional sentence, was initially treated well by Tilli-Choli, who is now serving a 14-year jail term for conspiring to murder the Bacon brothers.
But the relationship soon turned violent, with Tilli-Choli beating her often. Once, police had to pull him off her as he kicked her while she lay on the ground.
He was convicted of assaulting her and ordered not to contact her.
But they soon got back together again. The violence continued.
In early 2009, Tilli-Choli told her he wanted her to help him find Tyler Willock, an associate of the rival Bacons. Tilli-Choli said he hated Willock and wanted to punch him in the head.
A few days before the shooting, in February 2009, Cottrell sent TilliCholi a message.
“I’m in love with you,” she told him. “I’ll do what you asked earlier. I want to spend tonight with you so I can wake up with my loved one on Valentine’s.”
On the night of the shooting, Cottrell sent a message to Tilli-Choli that Willock was in the T-Barz strip club in Surrey.
“OK, who is he with,” Tilli-Choli said in reply.
“Losers,” said Cottrell. “Five guys and some girls.”
“OK, I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” said Tilli-Choli.
“Let me know when you’re here,” said Cottrell. “I don’t want to be around.”
Just prior to the shooting, Cottrell sent Tilli-Choli another message, saying Willock would be in a “dirty Range Rover. He’ll probably be driving. I love you. Don’t get into trouble.”
Shortly after midnight on Feb. 16, 2009, Tilli-Choli’s Lincoln Navigator SUV pulled up to a Range Rover stopped at an intersection outside the T-Barz.
Someone in the SUV opened fire. Four of the eight shots fired penetrated the front windshield of the Range Rover. The driver, who cannot be identified, was shot in the right shoulder. He survived.
Three passengers, including Willock, luckily escaped injury.
The shooting happened during a Lower Mainland street war between the UN gang and the Bacon brothers and their associates in the Red Scorpions gang, court heard.
The gang war resulted in the May 2008 murder of Jonathan Barber, a car stereo installer who was mistaken for one of the Bacon brothers.
Tilli-Choli was initially charged in the Barber murder but had that charge stayed by the Crown, and pleaded guilty along with four others to a conspiracy to kill the Bacons.
Cottrell was initially charged with two counts of attempted murder but pleaded guilty to one count of assault before B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen.
The judge accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence that a conditional sentence of two years less a day, to be served in the community, was sufficient denunciation and deterrence.
Cullen noted Cottrell didn’t know that firearms would be used in the assault on Willock or that the intent was to kill the victim.
The judge noted Cottrell had no criminal record and there was no evidence she had any gang involvement or knew the role TilliCholi played in the gang war raging in the streets.
In a tearful apology to the court, Cottrell said she wanted to acknowledge and accept the consequences of her actions, “in which I’ve caused harm, fear and pain to others.”
Cottrell, who wore a black skirt and a white blouse, said she had worked hard to turn her life around and promised to continue on a positive path and cause no further harm to others.
Her conditional sentence includes nine months of house arrest and an order to have no contact with Willock.