The three teenagers and one adult who admitted to the Feb. 25, 2008 murder of 14-year-old Justin Vasey of Surrey never said exactly why they did it.
There were suggestions during their sentencing hearings that Vasey had somehow angered them, either by running into traffic or making a joke they didn’t appreciate, but the exact reasons for the brutal swarming attack were never clearly explained.
Now, one of the killers, Jordan Anthony George, has told a June 21 parole board hearing that there was no real motive.
According to a Parole Board of Canada written record of the hearing, George “claimed that the choice of victim in the index offence was random.”
George also said the attack involved what the board described as “a capacity for bullying on his part.”
The document was released June 30 at the request of The Leader.
The two-person panel approved six more months of day parole for George, allowing him to leave custody during the day.
The 21-year-old George was granted his extension despite being suspended twice in a one-year period for violating his terms of release.
In one incident described by the board document, George was suspended by an aboriginal substance abuse treatment centre after only seven days in March of this year because he was discovered in the women’s area of the residence after curfew.
However, the parole board document suggests George appears to have settled down since then, visiting a psychologist twice a month and demonstrating “some willingness and ability to utilize the many levels of support available.”
His parole was extended with a new restriction that requires him to “immediately report all intimate sexual and non-sexual relationships and friendships with females” to his parole supervisor.
It appears the new rule stems from the suspension at the aboriginal treatment centre.
Portions of the parole board report that appear to give more details of the incident have been blanked out.
What remains is a mention that “pictures of porn stars” were discovered on George’s cell phone, that a search of his room found “steroids, a list of females, and various money mart receipts” and a cryptic reference to “criminal thinking to recruit females for a brothel.”
The board has also ordered George to have no direct or indirect contact with one of his co-accused, identified in the document by the initials C.P.
That seems to be a reference to George’s older half-brother Cody Pelletier, one of the four who pleaded guilty to the attack and the only adult involved.
The hearing also disclosed a few more details of the night Vasey died, including the fact that George prevented Vasey from running away after throwing him off the roof of an abandoned house.
“The victim attempted to flee and you dragged him back to the house,” the board wrote.
George had earlier admitted to kicking Vasey repeatedly in the head, throwing a brick at him and stabbing him in the abdominal area.
According to the board report, George expressed guilt and shame at his part in the slaying.
“You assumed full responsibility for your role in the crime,” the report stated.
George suffered “physical, sexual and emotional abuse” growing up and was diagnosed in 2009 with “developmental and personality disorder,” the board noted.
At the time of the murder, the then-17-year-old George had never held a job.
A victim impact statement from a member of Vasey’s family filed with the June 21 hearing outlined the “devastating impact” of his murder, the report said.
“The family has suffered depression and physical pain associated with chronic stress.”
Justin Vasey was living with foster parents and going to school in Surrey when he began hanging out with a group of older kids who turned on him and killed him one night while they were hanging out.
Three teens, George, Jade Pollard, and Danielle Wood-Sinclair were charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter.
The adult, Pelletier, was charged with manslaughter and pleaded guilty.
The four were handed sentences ranging from four-and-a-half to seven years.
Vasey was buried in Delta where the B.C. Ministry of Children and Families happened to have an available plot.
After a follow-up story on the Vasey case by The Leader disclosed that Justin’s grave still only had a temporary metal marker two years after he died, dozens of donors – including some of the police officers who investigated the slaying – raised money for a proper headstone.
– story by Dan Ferguson
