A Burnaby man found guilty of manslaughter in the stabbing of a 17-year-old boy on a Surrey bus on April 11, 2023 has yet to be sentenced but the Crown is seeking a prison term of 10 to 12 years minus pretrial custody while the defence argued for six and a half years.
The most recent hearing was on Friday, January 2 in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster and is set to resume on Friday, January 9.
Kaiden Mintenko, 22, was expected to be sentenced on Oct. 2, 2025 but this was paused to hear testimony from a court-ordered expert concerning disputed facts.
Justice Terry Schultes delivered his manslaughter verdict against Mintenko on March 20. He was tasked with deciding if Mintenko is guilty of second-degree murder or the lesser included crime of manslaughter following a 10-day trial in December 2024.
The victim was stabbed once in the right upper chest while riding on a Route 503 bus in the 9900-block of King George Boulevard and died in Royal Columbian Hospital that night.
Schultes imposed publication bans on information that would identify the teen and two Crown witnesses. He also ordered a publication ban on the identity of a fourth person.
Before delivering the guilty verdict, Schultes noted that Mintenko warned the teen “watch your back” just before stabbing him, suggesting he had a future encounter in mind.
“At the end of the day, the evidence that I find most informative on the issue of intent is Mr. Mintenko saying ‘watch your back’ just before he stabbed (the victim),” the judge decided.
“I must find Mr. Mintenko not guilty of murder but guilty of the included offence of manslaughter,” he determined. This was met with weeping in the courtroom.
Mintenko did not testify at his trial but other passengers did, including one who tried to stop the victim’s bleeding with a scarf.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Eric Bol testified that a knife with a single edge was thrust 17 centimetres (6.69 inches) into the victim, through the hardest bony part of his third rib into his right lung, damaging his pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein.
The Crown and defence on January 2 presented submissions and case law, with Crown prosecutor Rod Flannigan arguing for a prison term of 10 to 12 years minus pretrial custody and defence lawyer Mark Swartz arguing for six and a half years.
A manslaughter sentence can range from a suspended sentence to life in prison.
The court heard Mintenko was prepared to plead guilty to manslaughter before the trial began on Dec. 2, 2024 but the Crown rejected this to pursue a murder conviction.
Flannigan told Schultes although he found Mintenko didn’t have the specific intent to murder “there’s still evidence before the court” of purpose and planning as well as a “shrewdness” in his dealing with police.
“Situations in manslaughter, they cover a wide range of circumstances of near accident to near murder,” Flannigan noted. He said Mintenko was “looking for violence” and that this case is closer to murder than accident.
Flannigan said Mintenko committed “planned” violence against someone he didn’t know, and noted his victim was “an innocent bystander who’d done no wrong or injury to Mr. Mintenko.”
“A hefty sentence is required in this case,” he told the judge. The teen didn’t deserve to die in “such a brutal fashion,” he said, adding Mintenko deprived the teen’s family and friends “of his presence and love.”
Swartz discussed Mintenko’s “cognitive difficulties” at length, as well as him being “vulnerable” to peer suggestion, being exposed to alcohol prenatally and being someone with “a compromised mental condition” who struggles with emotional regulation and impulse control.
“He wants to become a better person, the best man he can, when he’s eventually released from custody,” Swartz told Schultes, adding Mintenko is “devastated” over what he’s done.
The defence lawyer read from several “support letters,” including one from Mintenko’s parents indicating he has since “grown emotionally with a different attitude and outlook on life” and that there’s “been some growth and maturity.”
Flannigan noted at trial there were 37 passengers on the bus, not counting the driver. The victim was attacked while standing behind the driver. Flannigan noted much blood was spilled, dripping out the middle doors. “What’s important is this knife passed through the bone of the third rib,” Flannigan said. “This was a forceful blow.”
The trial heard Mintenko was fascinated with knives at an early age. A Crown witness testified during the trial that a girl who was with Mintenko on the bus knew the victim and would “try to egg him on” whenever they crossed paths. “There was evidence of previous hostility” from her to the victim, Schultes noted.
The trial heard that Mintenko admitted to police that he killed the teen but had also sobbed to the officers “he wasn’t supposed to die, I didn’t want it at all, I didn’t want to kill him, I didn’t want to, I wasn’t trying to.”
When a police officer then asked Mintenko what he thought was going to happen then, Mintenko replied, “I wasn’t thinking.”
“I never wanted to hurt nobody,” he told police.
“I’m f—-ing caught, man,” Mintenko said. “There’s no doubt about that.”