VANCOUVER — A man who orchestrated a series of firebombings and targeted shootings aimed at people with a connection to the British Columbia Justice Institute will be sentenced today.
Forty-three-year-old Vincent Cheung of Langley, B.C., pleaded guilty last week to 18 of 23 charges including arson and firearms offences stemming from attacks on 15 families in 2011 and 2012.
The B.C. Supreme Court heard that Cheung hired associates or may have personally carried out the crimes after tracking down people who parked their vehicle at the institute in the Vancouver area where police and first responders are trained.
Crown attorney Joe Bellows argued the man's mental health and substance abuse challenges did not meet the bar as a mitigating factor and called for a 15 year prison sentence.
Cheung's lawyer, Martin Peters, asked for 10 year sentence, telling court his client was consuming drugs at the time of the attacks but no one chooses to be an addict.
Court heard nine victim impact statements in which people reported emotional trauma, depression and sleep deprivation after their homes or cars were shot at or set on fire.
