Crown seeks no parole for 50 years for man who murdered Vancouver couple

The Crown is asking a B.C. Supreme Court judge to “stack” parole ineligibility periods so Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam wouldn't be released from jail for at least 50 years for murdering a South Vancouver couple in 2017.

Dianna Mah-Jones's niece said she started sleeping with a night light. Her sister said she was haunted by thoughts of Mah-Jones's last painful, terrified moments. And her social group feared they might be the next targets of a crazed killer.

The B.C. Supreme Court judge weighing the fate of the man who slaughtered Mah-Jones and her husband Richard Jones heard Wednesday of the many ways in which family and friends saw their lives impacted by the horrific killings.

Crown prosecutors are seeking a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 50 years for Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam, who was convicted last month of two counts of first-degree murder for killing the couple who were complete strangers to him.

Without exception, victim impact statements read into the record by Crown prosecutor Daniel Mulligan spoke of the deep sense of loss and grief left in the wake of the killings. And they all asked the same question: Why?

Kam followed Mah-Jones into her South Vancouver home on a September afternoon and slit her throat. After hearing her husband enter the house, he then subjected him to a prolonged and vicious attack with a knife before using a hatchet to ensure he was dead.

The seemingly random nature of the horrific crime haunted Kam's trial. But Mulligan told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Laura Gerow there was no point looking for a deeper motive.

“The why is obvious and horrifying,” Mulligan said.

“Mr. Kam viciously murdered two strangers for no other reason than to gratify his deviant impulses.”

‘Nothing fills the void'

Kam attended the proceedings through a video link from jail.

Mulligan said the evidence showed Kam had a desire to kill someone and acted on it. Though the prosecutor said no one may ever know why Kam had that desire.

First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years. But the Crown is asking Gerow to consider sentencing Kam under a recently amended provision of the Criminal Code that allows judges to “stack” parole ineligibility periods consecutively so that Kam would be in jail until his mid-70s before release.

Mulligan told the judge the randomness of the crime should be considered a “significant” aggravating factor in sentencing. And he pointed to the victim impact statements as proof.

None of the victims read their statements; Mulligan presented each as an excerpt.

Most came from Mah-Jones's family, who spoke of her as a force of nature, a dedicated and skilled occupational therapist who brought a sense of adventure and fun to everything she did.

“Nothing fills the void of our loss,” wrote one sister.

“I've been told that life doesn't have to be fair,” wrote another. “But neither does it have to be so cruel.”

A niece said Mah-Jones's death made the world suddenly seem “like a much scarier, awful, evil place,” and close friends said they were plagued by the knowledge that the couple had suffered so greatly in their last moments of life.

“I keep asking ‘Why? Why did you do this to them?' one friend wrote.

“Did you not feel pity?”

‘A danger to anyone'

The statements also included a victim impact statement from the tap dancing club Mah-Jones joined in 1998 when she moved to Vancouver from Edmonton. The club travelled the world together and was the subject of a documentary. 

Before police found the killer, members of the club feared that the publicity may have resulted in Mah-Jones's murder and took steps to protect their security after her killing.

Mulligan told the judge most murders happen as a result of conflicts or emotions that can be understood and mitigated through rehabilitation whereas Kam “represents a danger to anyone who crosses his path.”

For that reason, he said a parole ineligibility of 50 years is not unreasonable.

“When you have someone who is setting out to kill random people then it's much more difficult to identify what can be changed through rehabilitation,” he said.

Kam was in his early 20s at the time of the killings and has no prior criminal record. His lawyer says the state shouldn't give up on the possibility that he could be rehabilitated.

‘Stacked' parole

The “stacked” parole provision was introduced to the Criminal Code in 2011 under former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a means to ensure greater jail time for people convicted of multiple murders.

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Mulligan cited the case of Travis Baumgartner, a former armoured car guard who killed three of his co-workers and left another wounded in 2012. Baumgartner was handed a 40-year sentence.

And Justin Bourque, the man who murdered three RCMP officers and wounded two others in Moncton in 2014 was sentenced to 75 years.

Mulligan listed off a litany of factors that he said should weigh in favour of a longer sentence: the fact that Kam appeared to prepare himself for killing; that he chose two strangers; that he disrespected their bodies; and that they were both defenceless and much older.

He said Gerow should think about the murders as two separate “criminal transactions” as opposed to one act even though they occurred in the same home.

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