B.C. Court of Appeal overturns life sentences imposed on teen murderers who stabbed victim 42 times

Paul Prestbakmo, 45, was killed in what homicide investigators believe was an unprovoked attack in Surrey.

Two men who were given adult sentences for murdering a Surrey man when they were in their teens have won reduced sentences on appeal.

Instead of spending their lives in prison with no chance of parole for seven years, the killers—who cannot be named because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act‘s ban on identifying minors accused of crimes—will now serve seven-year sentences, with only the first four years behind bars.

The killers initially appealed both their convictions and their sentences for the second-degree murder of 45-year-old Delphin Paul Prestbakmo. They ended up dropping the conviction appeal and only appealed the sentence.

‘A random act of extreme violence’

The brutal slaying took place in August 2019, when the offenders were 15 and 16 years old, respectively.

The court heard that the teens had left a party to go for a walk in the early morning hours of Aug. 16 when they came across Prestbakmo.

There was no indication before the court that the killers had any prior connection with their victim. Investigators believed Prestbakmo had gone outside for a smoke and to take out the garbage, and that the attack was unprovoked.

He was found fatally wounded in a parking lot near the Semiahmoo Shopping Centre.

The killers stabbed him 42 times in only 26 seconds, causing deep wounds that were not survivable, according to B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Harvey M. Groberman’s decision, written on behalf of the three-judge panel.

“There was no apparent motive for the attack, nor any indication of a precipitating event,” the decision reads. “The judge was left with the possibility that it was simply a random act of extreme violence.”

The trial judge convicted the teens of second-degree murder, a ruling that comes with an automatic life sentence with parole eligibility after as few as 10 or as many as 25 years for adult offenders.

Youth offenders convicted as adults can receive life sentences, but the YCJA prescribes shorter parole eligibility requirements for them. Prestbakmo’s murderers had their eligibility set at seven years.

‘Presumption of diminished responsibility’

In a decision issued Friday, B.C.’s highest court cited a recent decision from the Supreme Court of Canada as its reason for overturning the sentence.

The July 2025 SCOC ruling “substantially elevates the threshold for sentencing young persons as adults,” reads Groberman’s decision.

Under previous jurisprudence, judges considering imposing an adult sentence on a minor were expected to weigh evidence about the accused’s maturity and determine whether they were satisfied that the “presumption of diminished responsibility” prescribed in the YCJA for young offenders had been rebutted.

The SCOC ruling raises the bar for judges to satisfaction “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the presumption has been rebutted, according to Groberman’s decision.

“The court also emphasized that equivocal indicators of maturity should not be exaggerated or emphasized,” the decision reads.

“The standard set in (the YCJA) is an exacting one. It must be definitively established that the level of maturity of a young person is so advanced that they should no longer benefit from the presumption that they are less blameworthy or culpable than adults who commit similar crimes.”

Prestbakmo’s killers were sentenced in 2022, years before the SCOC decision, and Groberman found it “manifest” that the trial judge did not meet the SCOC’s standard in his analysis of the case.

Crown counsel conceded that the appeal should be allowed and the adult sentences for the killers replaced by the maximum allowable under the YCJA.

Groberman imposed such a sentence, ordering the killers to serve seven years, with the first four in incarceration. They will receive credit for the time they spent in custody after their sentencing by the lower court.

“I have no doubt that the brutality and senselessness of the crime in this case will cause some members of the public to view the overturning of the sentences as an injustice,” Groberman’s decision reads.

“This is, however, a court of law, bound to adhere to the dictates of statutes and the interpretations of them by a higher court … In light of the language of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the (SCOC decision), it is clear that it was not open to the trial judge to impose an adult sentence on the appellants."