SURREY — Raymond Lee Caissie was sentenced to life in prison this morning in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster in the 2014 murder of Surrey teenager Serena Vermeersch.
He will not be eligible to apply for parole for 17 years, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the killing.
Caissie stood in the prison docket dressed in red prison garb and took the news quietly.
Justice Gregory Bowden numbered him among “violent, merciless men without a conscience.”
Bowden noted defence counsel has conceded that Caissie will probably never be released.
After the sentencing, Caissie was was escorted out of court by a sheriff.
Vermeersch’s family is not commenting.
A Surrey Search and Rescue team found the 17-year-old girl’s body on Sept. 16, 2014, near railway tracks in the 14600-block of 66th Avenue in Sullivan.
Caissie, 43 at the time, was arrested the following week in Vancouver and charged with second-degree murder. He has spent most of his life behind bars for sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, robbery, theft, and other crimes.
See more: Crown, defence seek 17 years no parole in Surrey teen’s murder
tweet
The Crown and defence made a joint submission for Raymond Lee Caissie to not be eligible to apply for parole for 17 years, as he serves his mandatory life sentence.
The court heard Caissie, now 46, choked Vermeersch until she was unconscious after riding on the same bus with her.
When she exited the bus, he got off too and followed her for four blocks. She then turned down a dark path she used as a short cut home.
When he caught up to her on the path, he marched Vermeersch 580 feet to a secluded area at the edge of a cedar mill, where the teenage girl pulled an X-acto knife out of her purse and slashed Caissie’s neck, leaving a wound that required 22 stitches.
Crown prosecutor Colleen Stewart said Caissie then choked the teen unconscious and decided to kill her to silence her, given his lengthy criminal record dating back to the 1980s.
“His background is abysmal,” she said. “He has repeatedly terrorized women.”
Stewart read victim impact statements from Vermeersch’s family and friends. “Why didn’t I pick her up at the bus stop?” her mom’s statement read. “I regret it over and over. I failed her.”
Zytaruk embed
