15-year sentence sought

Photo: Contributed

A man convicted twice for a Kelowna college student's 1993 death should be sentenced to 15 years in prison, says the Crown.

Neil Snelson was found guilty of manslaughter in June, after the second time he was tried for the death of 19-year-old Jennifer Cusworth.

Cusworth's body was found in a ditch the day after the two met at a party in Kelowna, but he wasn't charged until 2009.

Defence lawyer Richard Fowler told a sentencing hearing Thursday that Snelson should serve 10 to 12 years behind bars.

“Mr. Snelson continues to deny responsibility for the offence,” he said, adding his client's wife left him after the first conviction in 2011 and that he is estranged from three of his four children.

Terry and Jean Cusworth told B.C. Supreme Court their daughter liked to wear gold rings on one hand, silver on the other. She played guitar, loved grilled cheese sandwiches and made great crepes for her parents.

“God, how I wanted to hold her one more time,” Jean Cusworth said.

“We love you and always will,” they said in unison at the end of their 20-minute statement to Justice Dev Dley.

The B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a new trial after finding the Crown could not enter as evidence a question police put to Snelson about whether he was ready to plead innocent or guilty.

Snelson’s second trial was held in Kamloops because of the publicity generated by the first in Kelowna.

Cusworth was strangled and suffered skull fractures from being struck on the head seven to eight times, a forensic pathologist testified. The Crown presented evidence showing Snelson’s DNA matched semen found on Cusworth’s body.