Third accused pleads guilty in gang-related kidnapping

A third accused in a high-profile gangrelated kidnapping has entered guilty pleas in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

In a brief court appearance Friday, Cody Alexander Sleigh, 25, pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and possession of a restricted firearm in connection with the November 2011 abduction of Eric Low.

Sentencing was been put over until May 29 so B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen can have available the details of another sentencing involving Sleigh, following his conviction in a violent home invasion in Delta in August 2011.

Yonatan Abraham Kassa, a co-accused in the November 2011 home invasion, was sentenced last April to five years in prison after entering guilty pleas.

While under police surveillance, the accused smashed in the front door of a home in North Delta and ransacked the property. The two tenants fled the scene. At the time of Low’s kidnapping, police were conducting surveillance on Jesse Margison, a member of the Independent Soldiers gang who was eventually arrested and charged along with Sleigh and four others.

In February, Troy Dax McKinnon, 31, who played a leadership role in the Low kidnapping, entered guilty pleas and received a seven-year jail term.

In January, Derek James Stephens, 31, pleaded guilty to a lesser role and was sentenced to four years.

Margison was badly beaten in prison and deemed unfit to stand trial.

The trial of John Ross Powers and Van Van Vu, the two remaining accused, is to resume in April.