The man who died as a result of a punch to the head in a popular East Vancouver park offered his attacker no provocation, a Vancouver Provincial Court judge heard Aug. 29.
Jeff Arnie Lincoln of Vancouver pleaded guilty to manslaughter in December for the August 2021 death of Gilles Hebert, 60, in Grandview Park.
He appeared for sentencing submissions in Vancouver Provincial Court on Tuesday.
He had earlier pleaded not guilty and elected trial by judge alone.
The sentencing range for such an offence is four to six years, a sentence that could be affected by Lincoln’s Indigenous background — so-called Gladue factors.
It was Aug. 5, 2021 when officers responded to Grandview Park on Commercial Drive for reports of an assault in progress.
An unknown person assaulted Hebert, leaving him unconscious.
Crown prosecutor Jenny Dyck said Hebert fell straight backward with no attempt to break his fall.
He died in hospital later that day.
Defence lawyer Glen Orris said Aug. 28 Lincoln had been told that a man in the park had been aggressive toward an older woman and exposed himself in the park.
Orris said Lincoln’s partner believed Hebert was that man.
“Whether she identified the right person or not, we don’t know,” Orris said.
Dyck countered on Aug. 29, saying, “We can’t have people going out and attacking someone because they think they know something about them.”
Dyck said Lincoln turned his back and walked away, leaving Hebert on the ground.
She said Lincoln’s attack on a man years older than him was, “deeply unfair and cowardly.”
Homicide investigators identified a suspect and spent months gathering evidence before making the arrest.
The court, however, heard Lincoln had turned himself in that day and was arrested some time later. He received bail that was later revoked and has been in custody since.
In an appeal for witnesses the day after Herbert’s death, VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin said possible witnesses “may not have realized the severity of the assault.”
An obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press described Hebert as a gentle soul and a pillar of his community.
He was a volunteer at Britannia Community Centre and was known as a craftsman who loved sculpting stone and wood and did carpentry work.
A victim impact statement from Hebert’s partner, David Parent, called Hebert’s death “a senseless and random act of violence.”
Of his loss, he said, “to say my life will never be the same is an understatement.”
“Gilles was in the wrong place at the wrong time and for that my life is forever changed.”
The court heard Lincoln has a criminal record involving convictions for assaults, mischief and drug offences.
