Kyle Louie is led out of the Penticton courthouse during his sentencing hearing on January 21.
A joint submission by the Crown and the defence is recommending “long-term offender” supervision for a 26-year-old Oliver man who stabbed his brother to death in 2011.
The long-awaited sentencing hearing for Kyle Louie began today (January 21) in the Penticton courthouse.
Crown counsel John Swanson outlined the manslaughter case that saw Louie plead guilty last spring.
The joint submission includes a 75-month jail term, five-and-a-half years of strict supervision, and a firearms prohibition for life. However, considering how long he has already been incarcerated (three years and 11 months), he would only serve six additional months in jail.
Austin Cullen, assistant chief justice of the Supreme Court, has yet to decide whether to accept the joint submission.
Kyle Louie, dressed in a white shirt, smiled at family and friends as he was led into court.
Swanson said Kyle killed Reece by stabbing him a number of times with a knife at their home on Black Sage Road on February 19, 2011.
Swanson told the court that Kyle (23 at the time) and Reece (21) lived with their father Clifford Louie.
The boys reportedly got into a fistfight that day at their workplace at Nk’Mip Campground in Osoyoos. Their supervisor subsequently fired them, and Kyle was heard threatening Reece’s life.
Swanson said Kyle accused Reece of owing $30 that he reportedly borrowed from Kyle’s girlfriend.
Back at home, another argument escalated between the boys, with Kyle subsequently grabbing a knife and starting to swing it, Swanson said.
Reece ran into a bedroom and locked the door, and Clifford ran to his mother’s house to call the police. Shortly after, Clifford saw Reece exit the house, stagger and fall on the driveway. Swanson said Reece suffered several large open wounds.
Police subsequently arrested Kyle without incident.
Following the facts of the case, both the Crown and the defence painted a depressing picture of Kyle’s troubled home life, which included alcohol and drug abuse.
Kyle told psychiatrists that he “blacked out” and couldn’t remember what happened.
Stay tuned for more coverage.
