By Jennifer Saltman
SURREY — One of two men charged in connection with a fatal stabbing in Surrey nearly two years ago has been convicted of assault.
Tyson Darryl Cole, 29, was charged with manslaughter in the death of 63-year-old Donald William Deweyn. During an appearance in provincial court in Surrey last week, Cole was convicted of the lesser included charge of assault causing bodily harm.
According to court records, he was sentenced to time served plus a day in jail, and a year of probation. Cole spent more than a year in custody before his conviction.
At about 5 a.m. on July 25, 2014, Deweyn was stabbed during an altercation with two males in a parking lot near 106th Avenue and 135A Street. Deweyn was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries less than 30 minutes later.
Deweyn was a retired millworker, a widower and homeless at the time of his death, though he was staying in the area. Deweyn had no criminal record and no negative contact with police.
Less than a month later, Dylan Dempsey, 23, was charged with manslaughter in connection with Deweyn’s death. Cole was charged in April 2015.
Dempsey has not yet gone to trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest on May 19.
Cole is facing unrelated charges stemming from an incident that took place before his arrest, in March 2015. He is charged with assault causing bodily harm. He is also accused of breaching an undertaking on May 19 in Kamloops, three days after his sentencing.
Cole is scheduled to appear in court next on June 6.
— with files from The Vancouver Sun