An 86-year-old British Columbia man who fatally shot his neighbours during a dispute over noise has been sentenced to life in prison, with the judge citing his advanced age and poor health as factors in setting parole eligibility at the minimum of 10 years.
Robert Amede Freeman pleaded guilty last month to the second-degree murder of John Kavaloff, 58, and the manslaughter of Valerie Smith, 67. The shootings occurred on Sept. 13, 2023, in a Chilliwack trailer park where the three had been next-door neighbours for over a decade.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Andrea Ormiston imposed a life sentence for second-degree murder, with a concurrent eight-year sentence for manslaughter. In her decision, she noted Freeman's "infirm and elderly" condition, including diabetes, heart disease, a brain injury, chronic abdominal pain and severe irritable bowel syndrome.
Judge cites health concerns
"He is not well now, and he was not well at the time he committed the offences," Justice Ormiston wrote. "There is, in short, a practical reality to Mr. Freeman's circumstances when it comes to parole ineligibility that cannot be ignored."
The judge also acknowledged that Freeman's actions "stand in stark contrast to a life of honest living and contributions to society." She described the offences as "not only unjustifiable, but also inexplicable, given the neighbourly relationship that had existed."
Family expresses frustration
The victims' family expressed disappointment with the justice system, saying Freeman's guilty plea came only on the day his trial was set to begin, after nearly 1,000 days and more than 40 court appearances.
"It is very difficult for our family to understand how someone who is truly remorseful continues to prolong the process while victims' families are left drowning in grief and trauma," wrote Joy Watson-Finnigan, the couple's daughter-in-law and family spokesperson, in a Facebook post after the sentencing on May 15.
Watson-Finnigan said the family had previously shown kindness to Freeman, noting that his wife had once painted a likeness of the couple's beloved Yorkie on a rock. After her passing, family members would routinely bring food to Freeman.
Details of the incident
The court heard that Freeman, then 83, had just purchased a new bed and placed it in a different room where the window faced Kavaloff's workshop. On the evening of the killings, around 8 p.m., Freeman left his home with "seething frustration about his ability to sleep" and armed with a loaded .22 calibre rifle, the judge wrote, describing the act as "a kind of vigilantism."
Freeman shot Kavaloff first, then turned the gun on Smith. The mandatory sentence for second-degree murder is life imprisonment, and the judge set parole eligibility at 10 years, the minimum allowed by law.
