One of the men charged in the death of a senior citizen pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court.
Sandy Jack Parisian, 49, had been scheduled to go on trial for nearly four weeks for the death of 78-year-old Usha Singh. Instead, he made the plea before Justice Kathleen Ker.
Singh, who lived alone, was found badly beaten in her house on Jan. 31, 2021. Vancouver Police said two men gained entry to Singh’s Little Mountain home around 6 a.m. on the Sunday morning by posing as police officers.
Singh succumbed to her injuries in hospital two days later. Parisian and Pascal Jean Claude Bouthillete, 43, were arrested Feb. 3, 2021 and remain in custody.
Bouthilette is scheduled to go on trial for first degree murder on May 27, 2024.
Parisian was living in the Strathcona Park homeless camp — six kilometres north of the crime scene — when he was arrested. Bouthillette was arrested near Main Street and Terminal Avenue, living in a trailer.
Parisian described himself in 2019 as the “mayor” of the Oppenheimer Park homeless camp. When he was arrested, Bouthillette was early into a 12-month probation for a June 2020 break and enter in the Queen Elizabeth Park area.
The tent cities cost city taxpayers more than $6 million in police, fire, parks and sanitation services.
