Man who planned 1990 Tsawwassen murders has day parole extended

JEFF BELL Times Colonist

Darren Gowen formerly known as Darren Huenemann who arranged for his Mount Douglas Secondary School classmates to kill his mother and grandmother in 1990 in an effort to get a $4-million inheritance, has been granted a six-month extension of day parole.

Gowen was granted unescorted stays at a halfway house in 2021, a year after a similar request was denied Gowen, who was 18 at the time of the killings, orchestrated the murders of his 47-year-old mother, Sharon Huenemann, and 69-year-old grandmother, Doris Leatherbarrow, at Leatherbarrow’s home in Tsawwassen.

His classmates Derik Lord and David Muir carried out the murders with a knife and a crowbar while Gowen stayed in Victoria with his girlfriend

The crime scene was made to look like a burglary had taken place.

Huenemann was given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years, while Lord and Muir were sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Gowen was also found guilty of a 1996 escape from prison, as well as an assault.

Terms of the August 2022 day parole included that Gowen not travel to B.C. and that he attend psychological counselling. Day parole allows for participation in activities in the community, with offenders required to return each night to a community residental facility or halfway house.

In its Feb 1 decision, the Parole Board of Canada said Gowen respected his conditions and obeyed the rules at his community residential facility during his time in the community.

Now 50, he was first granted six months of day parole in August 2022

At the time, he was in a minimum-security facility in Quebec He was initially allowed one twoday unescorted temporary absence a month.

Gowen has taken part in a number of programs while in prison to deal with issues like anger management and violence prevention, the decision said.

He had a good attitude while in the workplace during his day parole, the decision added, but expressed frustration at one point because he “felt like a slave”

The board said he got discouraged when he didn’t find a job right away, then began work in November with a group that supports the unemployed and helps them get into the labour market

It concluded that Gowen “will not present an undue risk to society” while on day parole, and it will help in his reintegration as a law-abiding citizen.

Lord, who continues to maintain his innocence, was granted a six-month extension of his day parole in January He was first granted day parole in March 2020

Muir, who admitted his role in the murders, got day parole in 2002 and was given full parole in 2003

Sandor Gyarmati

sgyarmati@delta-optimist com

A lawsuit filed by a man shot by a Delta police officer in a 2013 incident in Surrey has been dismissed in BC Supreme Court.

In reasons for judgment released last week, Justice Nitya Iyer found that Anthony Minchin did not prove Const Vicken Movsessian, who was part of a B.C gang unit at the time, breached the standard of care in the incident, which occurred in the early evening of Nov. 7 of that year

Accordingly, it is unnecessary to consider gross negligence or the defendant claims of contributory negligence, Iyer ruled Minchin, during the course of a high-risk vehicle take down by police, was a passenger in the rear seat of a vehicle the police had been following, but he was not the person the police were after.

The intended target was Corey Foster, a person with a long criminal record who was at large on many outstanding warrants There was no question that Movsessian shot the wrong person, but the key issue in this trial was whether he was negligent in doing so, stated Iyer

Iyer also concluded that while Minchin’s injury was not caused by Movsessian’s negligence, it does not diminish the harm Minchin has suffered, noting whether or not anyone was negligent, there is no question that Minchin was still the innocent victim of a police error

In court documents filed back in 2015, Minchin claimed that he was sitting quietly and in a non-threatening manner in the backseat of a car in the parking lot at the intersection of 108th Avenue and 148th Street.

Movsessian at the time had been seconded to the Combined Forces Special Enforcement

Unit-BC as a uniformed member of the provincial Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU)

In his statement of claim, Minchin said the officer approached the car and “suddenly and without warning drew, pointed and fired his police service handgun,” striking him in the left side of his chest, causing serious injury.

Minchin, who maintained he was unarmed and acting lawfully at the time of the incident, was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital for treatment

Police found no gun in the car, only a Ziploc baggie of marijuana.

Later that evening, an officer from the Independent Investigations Office, BC’s civilian-led police oversight agency, arrived to document the scene, taking photos and videos, some of which were tendered in evidence.

Minchin was seeking damages for personal injuries as a result of assault and battery, false arrest, false imprisonment and Charter violations

Minchin named the Corporation of Delta as a defendant as well as the provincial and federal governments and the Attorney General of Canada.

He claimed to have suffered bruising and contusions, numbness and tingling, permanent scarring and disfigurement, permanent loss of left arm and shoulder function and nerve damage

Alleging assault and battery, he was seeking general damages for pain and suffering, discomfort and inconvenience, permanent partial disability, loss of enjoyment of life and physical health

Iyer in the reasons for judgment noted Movsessian subjectively believed that the person in the rear passenger seat of the car was Foster and that he was reaching for a gun when that person’s hands were no longer visible and he appeared to be arching his back and “wedging up ” .

The judge accepted that Movsessian shot the person he believed was Foster because he believed Foster was about to shoot him.

Iyer noted, “The wisest course for a person faced with a police officer’s gun being pointed at them is to comply with

Their Directions

“However, it is certainly possible that an individual might panic, leading them to drop their hands. While another officer might have drawn a different inference, I find that Const. Movsessian’s inference, and his decision to shoot, are consistent with the reasonableness standard. He may have made an error in judgment, but it was not unreasonable in the circumstances”

Iyer also noted that the plaintiff submitted that Movsessian admitted that he had his index finger on the trigger before he made the decision to shoot, contrary to police training. However, Minchin could not say where in his evidence Movsessian made that admission, and the defendants say he did not. In crossexamination, Movsessian denied having his finger on the trigger prior to the shooting.

The incident was investigated by the Independent Investigations Office, which subsequently submitted a report to Crown counsel, and Movsessian was charged with careless use of a firearm

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