A man who sucker-punched 22-year-old Michael Page-Vincelli in a North Burnaby Starbucks two-and-a-half years ago has been found guilty of manslaughter in his death, but a woman accused of encouraging the punch has been acquitted.
Lawrence Sharpe, 40, and his girlfriend, Oldouz Pournouruz, 35, were both charged with manslaughter after the punch, which knocked Page-Vincelli back causing his head to hit the floor and possibly a counter, fracturing his skull and rendering him brain dead.
A B.C. Supreme Court jury delivered the verdict on Saturday after about 16 hours of deliberation.
The jury heard from witnesses who said they had seen Pournouruz and Page-Vincelli arguing over a thrown cigarette in front of the Kensington Square Royal Bank.
Pournouruz testified Page-Vincelli had thrown a lit cigarette at her after she refused to return his gaze while she sat in her car waiting for her boyfriend, who was in the bank.
An argument ensued during which both yelled and swore at each other, according to witnesses.
After the dispute, Page-Vincelli went toward the Starbucks next door and Pournouruz went to talk to her boyfriend inside the bank, witnesses said.
Security video from inside the bank and from the Starbucks shows the couple leaving the bank and walking briskly towards Starbucks.
Sharpe testified he had not intended to punch Page-Vincelli, only to find out who had thrown the cigarette and maybe get an apology.
He said he had hit Page-Vincelli in self-defence when the 22-year-old came towards him raising his right hand in a fist.
The Starbucks security video, however, shows Sharpe stride up to Page-Vincelli and punch him in the face without warning while Page-Vincelli is eating a bag of chips.
Sharpe also told an undercover officer planted in the Burnaby RCMP cells with him that Page-Vincelli had bullied his girlfriend and Sharpe had “f***ing clocked him for it.”
Not guilty
Pournouruz was accused of being a party to the manslaughter.
In her final instructions to the jury, Justice Mary Humphries described “party law” as “one of the most difficult areas in the criminal law.”
She said it was up to the prosecution to prove all the components of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt, including that Pournouruz had intended Sharpe to assault Page-Vincelli or that the couple together had intended to threaten him with assault before the punch happened.
Although Pournouruz had told Page-Vincelli that he had better leave her alone or her boyfriend would come out and beat him up, her lawyer, Pamela Smith-Gander argued she had only said that as a last resort to get Page-Vincelli away from her because she had been terrified by her encounter with him.
She had gone into the bank, not to plan a threat or assault with her boyfriend but for “solidarity and refuge” after a terrifying ordeal, Smith-Gander told the jury.
She had led her boyfriend to the Starbucks and pointed out Page-Vincelli only because Sharpe had asked who had thrown the cigarette.
Steffany Page, Page-Vincelli’s mother, said the family is disappointed with the jury’s not-guilty verdict for Pournouruz.
“If it wasn’t for her, my son would be here,” she told the NOW. “It started with her. My son said horrible things to her. There was an altercation, but back and forth. She was involved with it too. She did threaten him. He did walk away, but she led (Sharpe) to Starbucks.”
Page acknowledged, however, that the jury had done its job.
“They can’t go by how they feel; they gotta go by what the law says,” she said.
Sharpe is due back in court for a pre-sentence hearing on May 1.
