No parole eligibility for 12 years in fatal beating of mother
30-year-old man’s delusional thinking makes him a risk, judge says in ruling
A Vancouver man who brutally beat his mother to death has received a sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 12 years.
In June, Brian Whitlock, 30, was found guilty of the November 2014 second-degree murder of his mother, Barbara Whitlock, 61.
Whitlock, who had mentalhealth issues, beat his mom over the head, fracturing her skull multiple times, and also inflicted injuries to her neck.
He dragged her down a set of stairs and left her on the cement patio of the backyard. On the walls of the living room he wrote the words, “I killed Barbie.”
Whitlock was arrested following a lengthy standoff with police. When he was told he was being charged with murder, he said, “Yeah, I killed that witch.”
In imposing sentence on Whitlock on Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten said that the mother was the victim of a significant and sustained attack in her own home.
“She was then callously left on a cement patio in the backyard. This offence was committed by someone she loved and presumably trusted.”
The judge said the relationship between the mother and her son was not perfect and there was tension, frustration and even anger between the two of them.
But the mother was the accused’s main support and by all accounts the one person he could turn to, yet he “brutally” took her life, added the judge.
“Through his actions he has unquestionably devastated a family unit. This includes his two younger brothers, who three years after the fact continue to struggle with the loss of their mother.”
At trial, Whitlock claimed that he was not present at the time of the slaying, testimony that was rejected by the judge. DeWitt-Van Oosten noted that Whitlock, who in 2012 beat his German shepherd with a baseball bat and left the dog to die in a dumpster, had a history of mental illness, including a prior diagnosis of schizophrenia.
But at trial, the accused denied that he had a mental illness and did not put his mental capacity to form the specific intent to commit murder in issue or advance a defence of mental disorder.
After he was found guilty, the judge ordered that he be assessed to determine whether a mental disorder meant he was not criminally responsible. The assessment determined that it was not possible to say one way or the other if that was the case.
In imposing sentence, the judge said that in light of the violence committed by Whitlock, including the attacks on his dog and his mother and evidence of longstanding delusional thinking, she agreed with the Crown that his failure to admit mental illness means he poses an ongoing risk to public safety.
But the judge also found that at the very least his mental condition fuelled his behaviour and therefore his moral culpability for the murder of his mom was reduced.
Before imposing sentence, the judge asked the accused to stand in the prisoner’s dock. She then asked him whether he wished to say anything.
Through his actions he has unquestionably devastated a family unit.
After appearing reluctant to get to his feet, the accused said only: “Did it really take three years to get to this point?”
A life sentence for second-degree murder is mandatory, with parole ineligibility set at between 10 and 25 years. The Crown in the Whitlock case asked for 12 to 15 years of parole ineligibility, the defence 10 years.
Outside court, Troy Anderson, Whitlock’s lawyer, said he thought the judge’s ruling was a “very reasoned decision.”