‘So sorry:’ Man pleads guilty for gas-and-dash death of gas station owner

WETASKIWIN, Alta. — A man who was charged after an Alberta gas station owner was killed in a gas-and-dash apologized to the victim’s distraught family after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Ki Yun Jo, 54, was killed on Oct. 6, 2017, outside his Fas Gas station in Thorsby, about 70 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.

Mitchell Robert Sydlowski was charged with seconddegree murder, but the 29-year old pleaded guilty to the lesser offence Friday during an online hearing at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Wetaskiwin.

An agreed statement of facts submitted in the case said Sydlowski killed Jo when he sped off in a stolen cube van without paying for $198 of fuel.

“The victim observed that the accused was going to leave without paying and went outside to confront him,” said Crown prosecutor Vince Pingitore, reading from the statement. “As the accused drove away with the van, the victim grabbed the passenger side mirror.”

He said Sydlowski fled the Fas Gas with Jo clinging on to the mirror and drove for about two blocks, before the vehicle swerved and Jo was tossed to the ground and run over by the van.

Sydlowski, who is from Spruce Grove, Alta., also pleaded guilty to failing to remain at the scene of a fatal accident.

Pingitore recommended a sentence of six to eight years, while Sydlowski’s defence lawyer, Kent Teskey, suggested it should be at the lower end of the Crown’s recommendation because of the guilty pleas.