Surrey six families speak

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Eileen Mohan, centre, leaves B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday December 12, 2014 during a break in the sentencing for Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston, who were both found guilty in October of six counts of first-degree murder in the 2007 gang slayings of six people. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

After Eileen Mohan's murdered son was cremated, she cradled the urn with his ashes to her body and remembered her pregnancy, wishing desperately she had not asked the 22-year-old to stay home to meet a fireplace repairman the day both men were shot dead.

"At that moment I wished I had not given birth, at least he would have been saved from this horrible death," she said through sobs while reading a victim impact statement to British Columbia Supreme Court.

"My eyes are so full of guilt. My heart has not forgiven me. My soul is crying out. As I buried Christopher, I buried my heart with him."

Harrowing testimony from Mohan and the other family members of six men killed execution style by gangsters were entered into the court record on Friday during the sentencing hearing for the two convicted men.

The October 2007 massacre in a highrise apartment in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey soon came to be known as the "Surrey Six" murders.

Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston were each found guilty in October of conspiracy and six counts of first-degree murder. They are expected to be handed automatic sentences of life without chance of parole for 25 years, but they also must be sentenced on one count of conspiracy to murder the intended target.

The Crown's theory during the trial was that the bosses of the notorious Red Scorpions gang ordered the men to murder Corey Lal, a rival drug trafficker, and the other five were killed to eliminate witnesses.

The trial heard Mohan was dragged into the apartment from next door where Edward Schellenberg was servicing the fireplace. They were killed along with Lal's brother Michael, Eddie Narong and Ryan Bartolomeo.

Crown lawyer Mark Levitz urged Justice Catherine Wedge to pronounce the highest possible sentence on the conspiracy charge. He said that while it's clear the men are already being sentenced to life, he wants her additional ruling to be taken into account in two decades, when the men face the parole board.

"A life sentence on the conspiracy count is nevertheless necessary to send out a loud and clear message that we in this country and the courts denounce this conduct to the fullest," Levitz said.

But Haevischer's lawyer disputed the severe punishment for his client, saying that his client only became part of the conspiracy to kill 20 minutes before the murders took place. Simon Buck requested a sentence that would effectively negate the punishment, asking for ten years minus double-credit for five years, eight months of time already served.

Johnston's lawyer, Mike Tammen, asked for a starting sentence on the conspiracy charge of 12 years and also wanted time served to be taken into account.

Lawyers for both convicted men declined to provide any personal details of the killers' lives to the courts, on request of their clients.

Both men refused to make statements when asked if they wanted an opportunity to address the court, as is custom at sentencing.

The sentencing hearing opened with the presentation of nine victim-impacts statements either read by the Crown lawyer or personally delivered by family members.

A letter from Schellenberg's daughter, Rachael, said she believes that if the killers knew what kind of man her dad was, they would have walked away.

Red Scorpions leader Jamie Bacon faces trial for conspiracy and one count of first-degree murder at a trial next May.

Another man, Sophon Sek, is awaiting a separate trial for manslaughter.