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Man with Penticton connection convicted of manslaughter

Shayne McGenn found guilty in apartment killing of David Delaney
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Shayne McGenn is shown here being escorted out of the Penticton Courthouse in May 2016 after being remanded to Abbotsford to face second-degree murder charges. (Dale Boyd/Black Press)

An Abbotsford man, with criminal history in Penticton, was found guilty of manslaughter.

Shayne McGenn, 35, had originally been charged with the second-degree murder of Abbotsford’s David Delaney, but a judge on Monday convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter following the conclusion of a trial that began in early June.

Related: Penticton robbery trial starts days before accused’s murder trial

Prior to the murder trial, McGenn was sentenced to just under three years in prison for a May 2014 robbery at the Medicine Shoppe in Penticton. During sentencing in April, the court heard how he disguised his face with a bandana and used a “revolver-type” gun while demanding drugs from the narcotics safe and cash from register.

Related: Accused murderer found guilty in unrelated Penticton robbery

McGenn will be sentenced on the manslaughter charge on Oct. 2 in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. His co-accused, Sarah McGather, also 35, was found not guilty of accessory after the fact.

Manslaughter carries no minimum sentence — except when committed with a firearm, in which case the minimum is four years – and can range up to life in prison.

Delaney, 63, was discovered dead in the bedroom of his fourth-floor suite in the Aspen Court apartment building on Center Street in Abbotsford on Feb. 23, 2016.

Related: B.C. man killed stepfather by strangling him with belt, Crown says

He had died either late on the evening of Feb. 6 or the early morning of Feb. 7, according to evidence presented in court.

Related: Victim of suspicious death in Abbotsford is chef, age 63

McGenn and Delaney knew each other because Delaney had previously been in a common-law relationship with McGenn’s mother.

According to information presented in court, McGenn moved into Delaney’s apartment in August 2015 and obtained a job at Big River Restaurant and Taphouse in Coquitlam, where Delaney was a manager.

David Delaney
Delaney fired McGenn in 2016 due to concerns about his drug use at the restaurant.

In late January 2016, Sather and the child she had with McGenn also moved into the apartment.

Court documents state that McGenn, who was in the midst of a drug addiction, borrowed money from Delaney and some of his co-workers to finance his drug habit.

McGenn also used Delaney’s credit card without permission, and this created further financial problems for Delaney, the documents state.

The relationship deteriorated to the point where Delaney intended to ask McGenn, Sather and their child to leave their apartment.

Crown layer Tyler Dotten stated in his opening submissions at trial that McGenn and Delaney got into an argument in which McGenn attacked Delaney with a frying pan and a knife, and then strangled him with his belt.

Dotten alleged that Sather was in the apartment at the time of the killing and helped destroy evidence afterwards, including cleaning a knife and wiping up bloody water in the bathroom, where McGenn had showered after the offence.

McGenn was arrested and charged in Penticton in May 2016, and Sather was also charged around that time.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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