A Prince George man was sentenced Wednesday to nine years in prison for luring a woman into his home with the intent of murdering her.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale issued the term to Robyn Glenn Derksen, 54, for an Oct. 4, 2015 incident for which the accused pleaded guilty to attempted murder at the end of a preliminary inquiry, as well as to the lesser charges of unlawful confinement and uttering threats.
In reaching the verdict, Tindale effectively agreed with Crown counsel's argument for a sentence of at least eight years on the attempted murder count. Defence counsel had been seeking four to five years.
However, Tindale rejected the prosecution's position that Derksen should serve at least half the sentence before he is eligible to apply for parole, meaning he can seek release after completing one third of his sentence.
Moreover, Derksen received credit of just under 15 months for time served prior to sentencing, meaning he has roughly another 22 months to go before he can apply. While he described the case as troubling, Tindale found Derksen showed a strong desire to rehabilitate himself and concluded the date he can be let out on parole should be left up to the national parole board.
According to an agreed statement of facts read into the court record, Derksen told police he had a "demon in him that came out when he was drunk," and had been looking for a victim to murder for as much as two years, oftentimes carrying around a box cutter as he roamed the city.
His opportunity came when he came across the woman at a convenience store. She had arranged to meet someone to get some painkillers for her back but when the person did not show, Derksen told her he could help and she went with him to his 1300-block 20th Ave. home.
They entered through the back entrance after passing through an extremely high fence and once inside, Derksen put a metal bar across the door while she noticed another metal bar across the front door.
As she sat in a chair, Derksen suddenly told the woman he was going to kill her and that he was not kidding. She also told police Derksen had held a knife to her throat, although Tindale did not accept that assertion as well as her claim that he was going to torture her.
When she bolted for the back door, Derksen grabbed her by the hair and hauled her back to the chair. Derksen continued to threaten her but then allowed her to go to the bathroom, where she tried to call 911 on her cellphone but in a panic mistakenly dialed 611.
Her luck changed once she was back out. Derksen had gone to the back door to deal with the metal bar, which had been dislodged during her first attempt to escape, and while he was there, she made a run for the front door and managed to elude her captor before he could grab her.
The woman told her story to police the next day and on the day after that, Derksen gave a partial confession to police, saying he had been on a four-day bender and turned into a Mr. Hyde whenever he was drunk.
While the woman suffered only minor physical injuries, she continues to live with long-lasting psychological troubles. Moreover, if not for the woman's "quick wit and determination," she would have been murdered, Tindale said.
Derksen, meanwhile, took steps to deal with his alcoholism. While out on bail, he attended a treatment centre which, in a letter of reference, described him as a model client. He was taken back into custody in February, shortly after pleading guilty to the counts, and has remained there ever since.
Tindale noted Derksen has no previous criminal record and found he has accepted responsibility for his actions and expressed a degree of remorse. However, Tindale remained concerned that Derksen blamed his behaviour on alcohol and has not adequately addressed the reasons behind his homicidal urges.
