The loss of a Vanderhoof-area man to a drug-related stabbing death slightly more than five years ago has left his family with a wound that will never be healed, the court was told Thursday during a sentencing hearing for one of his assailants.
Blaine Albert Barfoot went by the nickname "Sunshine" and is remembered as upbeat, hardworking and generous. The father of one and his common-law spouse, Tara Lee Ann Williams, were found dead in their home on Jan. 13, 2013, the victims of a robbery gone awry.
"This has affected me tremendously, like it had happened only yesterday," Barfoot's mother, a sobbing Karen John, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale. "My heart feels like it has been ripped from my body and had left me with a (void) that will never be filled again."
Agreeing to a joint submission from Crown and defence counsels, Tindale sentenced a now 22-year-old man a further three years in jail followed by three years of community supervision.
Because he committed the act when he was 17 years old, his name is shielded from publication under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. By the end of his time behind bars, he will have been in custody for six years and 10 months.
Co-accused Shaun Keith Goodwin, now 23, was previously sentenced to eight years in prison for the murders. Both had pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder for a botched plan to rob the couple of drugs and money.
Williams, who was 40 years old at the time, had been selling cocaine and crack from their home with Barfoot, 29, helping out on occasion. Both were users of illicit drugs as were Goodwin and his accomplice.
Deserved or not, Williams developed a reputation of overcharging for the cocaine she sold and resentment against her was growing, the court was told. Conversely, their attackers had run up debts to other sellers.
At a party elsewhere in the community, the two concocted a plan to rob Williams and Barfoot.
Once in the home, they would talk about purchasing cocaine with the aim of finding out where she kept her stash. As soon as they found out, Goodwin was to go into the bathroom and, upon coming back out, the pair were to wield bear spray on the couple and then make off with the drugs and cash.
On the way to the home, they stopped at a friend's to pick up the bear spray and while there the youth consumed some cocaine as Goodwin waited outside.
From there, they made their way to the couple's home where more drugs were consumed. Barfoot also showed them a new butterfly knife, essentially a folding pocket knife, that would turn out to be the murder weapon.
As planned, Goodwin went to the bathroom and, upon re-emerging, the two deployed their bear spray, aiming primarily at Williams who had remained seated in the living room.
Barfoot, who had been standing in the kitchen, was able to use his size to overpower Goodwin and, in turn, Goodwin started hitting him over the head with a pot. The youth, meanwhile, turned the butterfly knife on Williams, stabbing her repeatedly. The knife was then used on Barfoot although who stabbed him was not made clear.
The two fled into the early morning with the drugs and cash and the bodies of Barfoot and Williams were discovered that evening by friends and family. The knife was found in a neighbour's doghouse.
Barfoot's sister, Angela, was among those who found the bodies. She called it the "hardest, most traumatizing day I was put through," and added she has carried a burden of guilt because she did not pick him up from the home the night before as he had asked.
Police identified Goodwin as a suspect and he became a target of a Mr. Big sting, in which officers posing as organized criminals take the suspect through a progression of tasks and scenarios designed to gain his trust.
The culmination is a meeting with the crime boss, or Mr. Big, in which the target is urged to provide the full details about his alleged crime so he can help make the problem go away.
Goodwin did as much and in October 2015, the two were arrested and put in custody. They both eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
As he listened to the statements, the now 22-year-old's appeared subdued with his head remained bowed.
Crown had considered sentencing him as an adult but determined it had no basis to do so. He was described as something of a model inmate who has held an ongoing sense of guilt for his actions and once described getting into drugs as the worst decision he's ever made.
Both he and his family no longer live in Vanderhoof as a result of what he committed. He has also completed an addictions treatment program and has stayed away from hard drugs, the court was told.
Given a chance to speak, he said he wanted to say sorry to everyone but "no sorry can make things right," he added. "This should never have happened and my remorse, I can't express with words."
A statement from Williams' sister was also read into the record. She recounted a troubled life for the mother of two, but also a woman who was a source of joy.
Tindale called the murders "horrific, senseless and violent," but added the sentence must take into account rehabilitation and reintegration.
