Three years after he bragged about stabbing 14-year-old Justin Vasey of Surrey to death, Jordan Anthony George has won a limited release from prison.
The written National Parole Board hearing that approved six months of day parole for the now 20-year-old George described his behaviour in prison as “problematic” since he started serving his five-year sentence for manslaughter.
“You have been involved in fights and assaults on other offenders, intentionally flooded two cells while in the custody of sheriffs, threatened staff and other offenders and made sexually inappropriate comments to a correctional officer,” the written decision stated.
“File information indicates you are noted to be slow to respond to direction; you can be disrespectful, argumentative and sarcastic in you interactions with others including staff and other offenders.”
The document of the May 15 hearing was released at the request of The Leader.
George was one of four people who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Feb. 28, 2008 death of Vasey, a foster child who was beaten and fatally stabbed during a drinking party at an abandoned Surrey house.
According to the parole board report, George became angry with Vasey because he was “jumping in front of cars,” but the report stopped short of saying that provoked the swarming attack.
Even after a four-month police investigation “there was no apparent motive for the offence,” the parole board document stated.
George, 17 at the time, confessed that he kicked Vasey in the head while the younger boy was begging for mercy.
He also admitted stabbing Vasey in the stomach and hitting him with a brick.
Afterwards, George boasted that the participants in the attack on Vasey had “earned their tear,” which was said to be a prison or gang reference to killing someone.
A psychological assessment rated George’s intelligence as “average to borderline” and found that he likely suffers from “behavioural and personality disorders” resulting form an extremely dysfunctional childhood.
The day parole was granted to allow George to attend a residential aboriginal substance abuse treatment program on Vancouver Island.
Several conditions were imposed.
George must follow the treatment program and undergo psychological counselling, he must abstain from alcohol and drug use and must not have any contact with certain former friends.
Full parole was not recommended, the parole board said, because George will require a “gradual, assisted” return to the community.
Justin Vasey lived and went to school in Surrey when he suddenly spiralled into despair and began hanging out with a group of older teens who turned on him one night and killed him.
He was buried in Delta because that was 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 police officers and support staff – raised money for a proper headstone.
The three others who pleaded guilty to the fatal swarming attack, Jade Pollard, Danielle Wood-Sinclair and George’s half-brother Cody Pelletier, are also expected to apply for parole.
All four were sentenced as adults after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
