Starbucks one-punch killer gets two years in prison for manslaughter
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2019 23:41:35 +0000
Lawrence Sharpe, who was found guilty of manslaughter for killing a man with a single punch inside a Burnaby Starbucks, was sentenced Friday in B.C. Supreme Court to two years and six days in a federal prison plus two years’ probation.
The Crown was seeking two to three years in prison for the death, while the defence sought a shorter sentence that would have landed Sharpe in a provincial institution.
In March, Sharpe, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted of the July 2017 manslaughter of Michael Page-Vincelli, 22, at the coffee shop in the Kensington shopping mall.
The attack followed a heated parking-lot argument between Page-Vincelli and Sharpe’s girlfriend, Oldouz Pournouruz.
Michael Anthony Page-Vincelli, 22, died July 15, 2017 after a confrontation at a Starbucks in Burnaby.
Sharpe told the court that he and Pournouruz, who was acquitted of manslaughter, followed Page-Vincelli into the Starbucks because he wanted to find out more about the dispute. He claimed he was acting in self-defence when he punched Page-Vincelli, who fell to the floor and struck his head. Page-Vincelli died later in a hospital.
During the sentencing hearing, Sharpe told Justice Mary Humphries that he felt “nothing but remorse” for the killing.
“I go to bed and wake up broken again,” he said. “I’ve been stripped to the bone. The only thing tough about me is my heart.”
His apology was not accepted by Steffany Page, the victim’s mother, who told reporters earlier this week that she was unsatisfied with the length of time Sharpe may spend in prison.
“I will never have justice for my son,” she said.
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