9 years, 10 months. Have a nice stay.
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A Halifax man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for killing another resident of his rooming house two years ago.
Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy accepted a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence for the sentencing of Qian Zhang, who stabbed David Currie to death in a dispute over a noisy kitchen fan in the early-morning hours of March 3, 2011.
Zhang, 49, had been charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter.
In delivering his sentence, Kennedy said, “I don't know how you make any sense out of this. I think you would drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what happened and rationalize it.”
He said Currie, a retired humanitarian aid worker who was 59 when he died, led the type of life that others only talk about doing.
"You have to lament a society for which violence is and has become such a common reaction to disputes," Kennedy said.
Qian Zhang has been sentenced to 10 years in prison less two months for the stabbing death of David Anthony Currie.
Halifax Regional Police discovered Currie’s body when they were called to the basement unit of a South Street apartment building in 2011.
Zhang, 49, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year.
Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy also accepted the joint recommendation of a 10 year weapon ban and DNA order.
The court heard how Currie and Zhang fought over a noisy kitchen fan in the rooming house they shared.
Zhang said he stabbed Currie in self-defence.
“I overreacted to a situation to which I should have known better. I plan to take courses to better manage my temper,” he said.
His lawyer, Joel Pink, says it was a moment of confusion and fear.
But Kennedy said it is hard to make sense of what happened.
"I think you would drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what happened here," he said.
"People have disputes. People have bad nights. People have disagreements. That's the nature of how we function. You don't take somebody's life. You can't stab somebody. It's not a reasonable reaction and yet it has commonly become such."
Both Currie's brother and daughter gave victim impact statements.
Currie's family said he had served as an aid worker in Africa for CUSO-VSO and for the United Nations before suffering memory loss after returning from Africa. He was unable to find work and ended up living in the rooming house and was on social assistance.
