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Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in Halifax stabbing

A Halifax man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 59-year-old man who was stabbed to death in the city's south end almost two years ago.

Halifax Regional Police discovered the body of David Anthony Currie when they were called the basement unit of a South Street apartment building on March 3, 2011.

Qian Zhang, 49, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. His trial was set to begin Monday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter instead.

Police said Currie and Zhang knew each other and both lived at the apartment building at 6128 South St.

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.

Zhang is due back in court on March 27 for sentencing.

Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in rooming-house stabbing

A Halifax man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with a fatal stabbing at a rooming house in the south end of the city almost two years ago.

Qian Zhang, 49, was charged with second-degree murder in the March 3, 2011, death of David Currie at the building where the men lived on South Street.

Zhang’s trial on the murder charge was supposed to begin Monday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax, but he told the judge he was pleading guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Defence lawyer Joel Pink requested that a presentence report on his client be prepared for the court.

Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy set sentencing for March 27.

Zhang, a brewmaster at Garrison Brewing Co. in Halifax, remains free on $50,000 cash bail with conditions of house arrest. He can only leave his Hollis Street residence to go to work or to take care of personal needs between noon and 3 p.m. every Wednesday.

Outside court, Pink said he and the Crown will make a joint recommendation on a prison sentence to the court, but he wouldn’t divulge the details of the agreement.

Currie, 59, spent most of his adult years working in Africa for various humanitarian organizations. His last posting was with the United Nations in Sierra Leone as senior humanitarian affairs officer until 2002.

He returned to Canada after contracting malaria and hepatitis from drinking water. He suffered from memory loss as a result of the illness and was on social assistance.

Jacqueline Currie-Gates, the eldest of Currie’s five children, said the family would have preferred to see Zhang convicted of murder but understood that “it’s always a gamble” when you go to trial.

‘We’d rather see him serve time than walk away,” Currie-Gates told The Chronicle Herald after Monday’s court proceeding.

“When Qian gets out, the bottom line is that my father will still be gone. So there will never be justice because my dad will be gone and Qian will be free.”

Currie-Gates said her father was a very giving and selfless man.

“He always put his family’s needs and the needs of the world ahead of his own,” she said. “He was very diplomatic in his thought processes. He was a walking encyclopedia and knew a lot about a lot.”

Her face lit up as she talked about her dad.

“He made he happy. He was my role model. I’m glad I got the upbringing that I did because I got to witness a lot of things from a worldly perspective, which has made me a more open and caring person.

“He was a wonderful, wonderful soul and he did the world a lot of good. He’s going to be greatly missed for so many reasons. He’ll never get to see his grandchildren grow up, and his grandchildren won’t know him, so that’s sad.”

Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy set sentencing for March 27.

Zhang, a brewmaster at Garrison Brewing Co. in Halifax, remains free on $50,000 cash bail with conditions of house arrest. He can only leave his Hollis Street residence to go to work...

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.