22 years for killer

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A Princeton man who shot two acquaintances execution style was sentenced to life in prison, Tuesday.

John Ike Koopmans will be eligible to apply for parole after 22 years.

Supreme Court Justice Miriam Maisonville handed down the sentence in Penticton court.

Koopmans, in his early 50s, was found guilty in April of the second-degree murders of Robert Keith Wharton, 43, and Rosemary Fox, 32, as well as the attempted murder of Bradley Martin.

On March 30, 2013, the judge said, Koopmans walked from his girlfriend's home to the Wharton property on Old Hedley Road in rural Princeton.

There, he shot Martin once, Wharton three times in the head, and Fox in both the head and chest. A third shot richocheted from Wharton's head into her ankle.

The small town's police force was ill prepared for an event of this magnitude, said the judge.

The motive is believed to be Koopmans' anger over an earlier break in at his home, which he believed Wharton to be involved in.

The judge said Martin has had a difficult life, while Wharton, only 43 at the time of his death, was the father of four children. Fox was also a young mother.

Those children's lives will be changed forever, said Maisonville.

Koopmans, a father of three, maintained his innocence and considered his girlfriend his only close friend. He abused alcohol and was seeking to learn more about his aboriginal background.

Crown counsel Frank Dubenski had sought 30 years parole ineligibility, 15 years on each murder count to be served consecutively and a life sentence on the attempted murder charge to be served concurrently. Defence lawyer Don Skogstad suggested a sentence of 17 and a half years, less credit for time served.

Dubenski said his suggestion was the result of Bill C-48, the protecting Canadians by ending sentence discounts for multiple murder acts. However, the judge decided a 30-year parole ineligibility sentence was unduly long and thus declined.

In determining that 22 years was appropriate, she pointed to aggravating factors that the two were killed in a senseless and brutal fashion.

The sentences were life for all three, with the parole ineligibility of 22 years for Wharton and Fox, to be served concurrently.

Koopmans declined to comment, when invited to speak by the judge.

Wharton and Fox family members who sat through the long trial earlier this year, wept and hugged Dubenski and each other after the sentencing.

Outside the courthouse, Wharton's sister, Cheri Franklin, said the family is happy it's over.

"He got what he deserved," she said. "My family can finally move on and we can maybe go forward and feel good ... It's really such anxiety lifted off my shoulders. It's amazing. The justice system finally worked."